Boundaries and Walls
by Enchanted1
Summary: The leaders of the 'Midnight Gang' unwillingly fall for the leaders of Manhattan and Brooklyn. The only problem is, they fall in love through the process of a rumble and since they are sworn enemies, how are things going to work out?
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Newsies and da udda characters cept Enchanted doesn't belong to me.  
  
  
There was only a slight breeze that night. The wind teased Jack's brown hair as he leaned on his arms against the metal of the fire escape. Too many problems for someone his age. Too many conflicts. He sighed regretfully. Only 18 and as jaded as a 50 year old man. And now he had one more problem to add to the mess.   
Jack took one long drag on his cigarette before throwing it near his foot and flattened it with his foot. He kicked it over the edge of the fire escape, and waited for the soft thud that would ensure it had landed safely. When it didn't come, he pondered for one moment, shrugged and exhaled one long trail of gray smoke, watching it trail into the sky.  
  
The Midnight Gang that had been living in Manhattan for so many months now had never bothered them. Never the Manhattan newsies. But Skittery and Snoddy had stupidly stolen one of the girl's selling spots. And the look that their leader had flashed him was enough to set him on edge.  
He had known their leader once. But that had been long ago.  
Sighing once again, the words that she had promised seem to tease at him.   
"Jacky-boy, you've been getting too big for your britches, huh? Get your newsies out of our spot, or I swear to God you'll regret it."  
Yes, he had once known their leader. He frowned slightly. When she was mad, there was no point in trying to calm her. Her anger would run its course, inevitably ending in a violent outburst.   
"Hey, Jack!" someone shouted, making him jump. He turned his head and recognized Kid Blink's voice.   
"Whad is it, Blink?" he questioned.  
"Get back in heah," he ordered, sounding like a leader himself.   
Jack smiled and nodded agreement, following Blink into the room. Greeting everyone in the room, he made his way to the washroom in the back. SB bumped by him, her arm around Bumlets waist. Smiles were both on their faces; eyes lit up as bright as the street lamps outside. Bumlets swooped down on her cheek, attempting to give her a kiss, but SB flirtatiously pushed him off and dashed away, her black hair waving behind her like a flag.  
Blink was soon tackled by Fairy as she screeched and jumped him from behind. Although she was 16, she still acted like she was 11 years old. Naiveté and innocence wasn't that hard for her to slip into, and she still believed that love would always prevail. Always. Through pain and suffering, torment and heartache. Her blue eyes laughed and twinkled as Blink struggled to force her off his back. "OUCH!" she screamed as he succeeded, "What was that for?" She acted bruised, hurt, and stormed off in one corner, even as Blink ran after her to console her.  
Jack smiled at his newsies' antics, forgetting the open window behind him. He shuffled off to the washroom to clean his face. Murmuring acknowledgments to everyone else, he finally made it, ready to scrub away a whole day's worth of dirt and ashes. The noise in the Bunk Room grew to a chaotic level as he submerged his face in the chilling water. 'What the hell am I going to do?' he contemplated, as he went over the day's happenings. When he pulled his face, dripping and wet, from the surface of the water, all was silent...  
~*~  
  
They slipped in like shadows, barely noticeable among the ruckus and discord. They stood there, arms crossed and leaning against the wall, for a full fifteen seconds, before someone finally became aware of their presence. The room grew dangerously quiet.  
"Well, well, Enchanted," Midnight said, obviously very pleased with herself, "Looks like we could break inta dis place and have no one notice."  
Enchanted shrugged amiably, and with a slight lilt to her voice agreed. "Ya win dis time," she proclaimed as she flicked a coin from her hand to Midnight's outstretched fingers. "We'se got business wid Cowboy heah," she ordered, facing the nearest newsie, who just happened to be Boots. He stumbled backwards in a fluster, vying to get the message to its owner.  
  
Jack dropped the towel he had been drying his face with, and looked up at an apprehensive Boots. "Cowboy, dey's heah," he said with a slight tremor in his voice, "Da Midnight gang!"  
Jack swore inaudibly and touched his rag of a bandanna for reassurance. Squaring his shoulders, he crossed the threshold of the door and into the vast space of the Bunk Room. He had heard so much of them, that even he felt a twinge of fear.  
His first sight was of Enchanted, arms crossed cockily, leaning against the frame of the window. Her long, black hair, streaked with even more brown than he remembered, blew with the slight breeze, and her large, piercing brown eyes moved through the room haughtily.  
His second sight was of Midnight herself, cleaning underneath her nails with a switchblade. There was nothing to conceal the slight disdainfulness she felt towards them all. Her brown hair lay on her shoulders, her chestnut brown eyes stayed focused on the dirt that lay beneath her nails.  
"Enchanted," he nodded.   
Enchanted looked up at him with contempt. "Didn't listen ta me, huh, Cowboy?"  
Midnight chose to jump in at this point. Not looking up from her nails she muttered, "Jacky-boy, we'se decided to give ya one more chance. I'se know we don't look like much---" she gestured at Enchanted, "But believe me, we'se got hell of a team."  
Jack scoffed loudly, displaying the fact that he didn't believe them at all. He wasn't acting arrogant to make it seem like he was fool hardy; he was only trying to keep the morale of the newsies up. "Goils, all a you'se, dat's what you'se are. Kicked outta Lodging Houses long ago," he declared the truth. "Midnight, you'se was from Queens. And Enchanted, dis is ya home sweet home, ain't it?"  
Enchanted smiled coldly, dropping the room temperature about five degrees. "Say what ya like. Our gang has been runnin' around New Yawk fo' a whole two years widout gettin' caught. And if---and dat's only if---one a us does get arrested, we'se bust her out perdy quick."  
Midnight clapped the knife closed haphazardly, flipping it into her pocket. "Amen," she summarized, "Da wildest, toughest gang a goils evah ta walk da streets," she bragged.  
Racetrack, sitting in one corner, let loose of a loud guffaw. Enchanted shot a glare in his direction to shut him up, but the laugh had its desired effect. The atmosphere in the room had sufficiently calmed down enough for Jack to gain confidence. He had to play it cool...act like nothing was wrong.  
"Sorry, goils," he said, keeping his words clipped, "We'se keepin' dat selling spot. Skittery and Snoddy need it. And whad are you'se gonna do about it? Deep down, you'se ain't nothin' but... gimps."  
  
Midnight's head snapped up at this remark, but Enchanted held out a hand warningly. He knew that look. That cold, roiling look of hostility. He cursed himself silently. What was she going to do now?  
"A bunch a gimps?" she questioned, keeping her tone as brisk as his.  
He nodded, an eyebrow raised.  
Enchanted leaned out the window and whistled, two high notes, and one low. After a few moments, a head with light brown, blonde hair and copper brown highlights popped up.   
"Yeah?" she snapped irritably.  
"Dey say we'se jist goils," Midnight said, cutting in before Enchanted could say it herself. Enchanted may have been the co-leader, but Midnight was the true head of the gang.  
  
Azure smiled, her lips twisting into a smirk. "Dat so?" she asked, planting one leg through the window, and flipping her hair over her shoulder as she did so.   
"A bunch a gimps, ta be correct," Enchanted said, with a tiny smile on the corner of her lips. Azure was loyal to a fault, and she would defend her gang whole-heartedly, without hesitation.   
  
Azure impatiently shoved Mush to the side as he stood protectively before Jack, her eyes no longer that warm azure color, but a dangerously cold icy sky blue. She looked Jack over, noting his strong arms, and his chest. "Just a bunch a gimps?" she inquired sultrily, reaching a hand and tracing a finger on his bandanna. "You sure about dat?"  
Jack stared at her rigidly, not even his eyelashes flickering.  
Before Jack knew what she was doing, she had shoved him onto a nearby bed, pinning him down with her knees. That smile was back as she held him down, driving his arms into the mattress.   
Azure smiled at the shocked look on his face. Obviously, he hadn't been expecting something like this. "Would a gimp be able ta hold down an 18 yeah old boy?" she taunted. Already, she could feel his muscles tensing from underneath her solid grip, and she knew that he would attempt to shove her off. Midnight caught her eye, giving a slight nod of her head.  
'Let's give them a lil show, shall we?' She asked herself, as she lowered her face to his, giving him a hearty, thorough kiss.  
Enchanted's mouth dropped open as she watched Azure give Jack a long kiss, watched as Jack attempt to snap away, and watched as he finally succeeded.   
  
Jack jerked when he felt her lips on his. Repulsed, yet a part of him was left wanting more, he shoved her off after a few long moments, making her tumble off his body. She landed with enough ease on the floor, and she sat back on her heels haughtily. She balled a hand into a fist, waving it in a circle in the air.   
Azure laughed strongly, making her stomach hurt. "Yee-haw!" she shouted, throwing her light brown hair out of her cerulean eyes. "Ride 'em, Cowboy!" she shouted.  
Enchanted observed as Jack's hand flew up to his lips and then dropped to his side, as a myriad of feelings flew across his face. Shock. Astonishment at her forwardness. And, just a touch of desire. Enchanted noted that look, thinking it would come in useful in the future.  
Midnight grinned and stepped forward. "Dat convince you enough, Cowboy?" she inquired.  
"Think about it. Uhm and Rook really need dat spot," Azure said, winking over one shoulder as she was helped up by Midnight. She turned to Enchanted, exiting discreetly through the still open window, she piped, loud enough for the whole Bunk Room to hear, "I'se don't get why people say he's so cute. He ain't a hell of a kissah, dat's fo' shoah!"  
  
Jack stared after her, laying two fingers on his lips, remembering the soft kiss that had resulted out of a hard moment. And then, the blow to his ego sunk in, and the anger started to boil. He knew that his reputation as a leader was blown down for a day or so, before he could get the newsies to even look at him without laughing again. "Midnight!" he snapped, making her turn around. "Dere ain't no way now I'm gonna give you'se dat sellin' spot back."  
Midnight only mysteriously smiled, and then disappeared through the window. When Boots and Snipes ran to the sill, hoping to call a few names and insults before they truly left, they only saw a half-flattened cigarette lying on the metal grating of the fire escape.  
~*~  
  



	2. Chapter 2

~*~   
  
"WHAT?!" Azure shouted as Enchanted kept throwing considering looks at her.   
"I'se wanna know what da hell dat was about," Enchanted ordered, lazily toying with the slingshot in her back pocket.   
"Spur a da moment thing, ya know. Sides, we'se convinced dem enough, right?" Azure smiled.   
"Convinced dem dat we'se jist a bunch a stir-crazy goils!" Enchanted scolded.   
"Lay off," Midnight growled admonishingly, "Azure made a good decision, all right? It ain't sumptin' Jack's gonna fergit soon."   
Azure giggled at that remark. "He betta not fergit it. I'se put me heart inta dat kiss."   
Enchanted rolled her eyes as they walked down the abandoned street, remembering the day's events.   
  
"Hey, wake up," someone poked Enchanted in the stomach. In a flash, her hand flew up and snatched the sleeve of the person that had woken her up.   
Snaps gasped in surprise. "Arrite, Enchanted, wanna leggo a da leather?" she said through clenched teeth.   
She assented with a dry laugh. "Sorry, Snaps." She propped herself up on her stomach and gave a cold stare through the room.   
  
Cats and Azure were gazing out the window as the sun tinted the sky gold, and then a warm pink. Cats' reddish brown hair flamed to a bright orange in the morning light, and Azure's eyes briefly matched the sky above the horizon before the heavens turned into a darker blue.   
  
Lightning was slumped in one corner, still half-asleep, her thick golden blonde hair rumpled by a hard night's slumber. The warm spring had caused her to shed her extra button-up shirt, leaving her with only a white undershirt. Most girls would have fainted to see one of their own wearing something as scanty as that, but not Lightning, and certainly not the Midnight Gang. Already Snaps was making her way around the room, shaking several girls on the shoulders to wake them up.   
  
Rook and Whisper sat near the very middle of the room, already wary and awake. Rook smiled slyly, her dark brown eyes sweeping the cards resting in her hands. She slicked back her straight black hair and slapped the cards down triumphantly. "HA! Four of a kind!" she exclaimed.   
  
Whisper groaned. "DAMMIT, Rook, whad da hell! Do you'se got an ace up ya sleeve or sumptin'?!" she yelled as she revealed the rest of her cards, which consisted of two threes, a ten, and a four. The baggy clothes she wore nearly engulfed her, but she looked comfortable enough.   
Rook just smirked. "Fork it ovah," she ordered, as Whisper threw her only dime at her.   
  
Mimic stepped out of the washroom in the abandoned warehouse, water dripping down chocolate brown hair and her freckled, fair skin. "Heya, Porcelyn," she approached the girl lying on her back, staring at the ceiling.   
"Heya, Mimic," she said back, her slightly crooked smile on her lips as she saluted her friend.   
Uhm struggled to her feet to sit next to the two of them. Out of the 14 of the gang members, she was truly the softy. She hated rumbles, she hated fights, but she would gladly defend all of her friends.   
  
Autumn sat up and punched Bitter as hard as she could. "Damn it, Bittah, I'se don't appreciate da fact dat you'se put mud in my hair!" she screeched. In an instant, she was on her feet glowering with her cold blue eyes.   
Blue eyes were met by green eyes as Bitter stood up too. "Looks like someone can't take a joke," she said, her green eyes glimmering.   
"All right, dat's enough," Midnight shouted authoritatively, "We'se don't need annuda bull on ouah back, got it?! We've got enough trouble as it is." Her hard, cold face was a mirror of everyone else's in the room.   
Enchanted was the first to notice it. "Where's Giggles?" she rapped out sharply.   
"She left in da middle a da night," Uhm answered promptly, "Said she couldn't stand staying in heah."   
Enchanted couldn't help but agree with her. The abandoned warehouse they had chosen as their favorite haunt was one of the most depressing things she had ever seen. They would have to go search for another place to spend the night sometime soon.   
A slam of a door announced Giggle's arrival. She smiled waveringly at everyone in the room. In a flash, Midnight was at her side.   
"Whea da hell have you'se been?" she demanded.   
"Around," she responded shortly.   
"Giggles, whea have ya been?!" Midnight shouted.   
The 5'2'' girl giggled, living up to her name. "Damn, da Manhattan newsies are hot."   
"Oh God no," Enchanted said, her face in a grimace. "You'se haven't been flirtin' wid dem, have you'se?!"   
Giggles scoffed, "Whaddya t'ink, Ench?"   
"I'se t'ink dat if it weren't fo' all a us, you'se woulda become a prostitute, dat's whad," Enchanted retorted.   
Giggles merely laughed, running her hand up and down her suspenders and spinning the hat on her head.   
Midnight cut the laughter short with a well-timed glare. "I'se mean it, Giggles. One more night out widout tellin' us, and you'se gonna spend da rest a your nights locked up in heah."   
"Oh, fo' God's sake," Giggles grumbled, but was silenced abruptly as Midnight turned away from her, done with her lecturing. She stormed over to Lightning, who had been watching the whole thing. "Can you'se believe dat?!" she growled.   
"She's jist lookin' out fo' us," Lightning comforted her, "If you'se were caught, we'se wouldn't know, would we?"   
Enchanted smiled at the group of girls gathered around her. They were all like a huge family. A fighting, riotous, unruly family. But a close one, at that.   
Midnight pushed back her brown hair. "Hey, Chant. We got enough money fo' lunch at Tibby's?"   
Enchanted's smile dropped. "Shit. We'se gambled away all ouah money last night."   
The room was silenced. "WHAT?!" Midnight screeched.   
"Da races, da card games in Queens. I'se only got a quartah," Enchanted pulled out the single coin. "And Rook's gotta dime."   
"Looks like we'se gonna hafta woik today, goils," Midnight ordered, much to the dismay of all of them. "Enchanted, tell em whad we're gonna do." she turned to her.   
"Ok," Enchanted was used to telling them what to do, while Midnight enforced the commands. "Rook and Uhm, you'se take dis quartah and your dime," she flipped the coin through the air. Uhm reached up and caught it, plucking it from the air. "Take da money, go ta da Distribution Center, and buy as many papes as ya can with it. Go ta da sellin' spot we'se always go to, sell em all, ya got dat?"   
Uhm and Rook nodded, and started on their way, exiting through the window.   
"Porcelyn, I'se want ya ta do da charitable thing. Go ta whea all da hoity-toitys live and beg fo' money. Throw yaself at dere feet if ya hafta. Mimic, you'se do da same, since you two are good actors."   
"Is dat all?" Porcelyn asked.   
"Giggles, at whatever chance you'se can get, pick a pocket. Arrite? Jist don't git caught."   
"Me? Git caught? Dat's like teaching a fish how ta fly," she bragged as she left the room with Porcelyn at her side.   
"Bitter, git on a street cornah and sing ya heart out. Up on Medda's corner. Some people are gonna give some money ta you'se. Dat's good. But Autumn heah..." she waved a hand, "Will be infiltrating the crowd wid her pickpocketing skills. Same wid you, Lightning."   
Autumn and Lightning smiled in anticipation, as did Bitter. They were going to spend a whole day doing what they loved. Who could say that was work? She trudged off to the washroom to scrape the dry mud out of her light brown hair, while Bitter and Lightning waited impatiently.   
"And Azure, you and Cats are gonna be gittin' ouah breakfast and lunch fo' us."   
"What?!" Cats screeched as she turned from the window.   
"She means," Azure explained, "We'se gonna be stealin' from vendors today. Ain't nothing big."   
Cats smirked as she finally understood. "We providin' fo' da family now?" she asked jokingly.   
"Very funny. Don't get caught," Midnight proclaimed as they left the room, ready to get to work.   
"And Snaps and Whisper? Think you'se can pump your boyfriends for money?"   
"Morris and Oscar?!" Snaps asked incredulously.   
"Yes, Morris and Oscar. They have lots. They supply the newsies, don't they?"   
"Newsies..." Snaps shuddered, involuntarily feeling along the sleeve of her leather jacket.   
"All right," Whisper agreed, "No problem. We'll git as much money as we can, Midnight," she promised. She smiled at the thought of seeing her boyfriend. Out of all 14 of them, only Snaps and Whisper was attached. To the Delancey brothers. And no matter what Azure or Enchanted thought, the Delancey brothers were quite a catch. They had the same sense of humor, the same habit of not wanting to show too much weakness, and the same unintentional hatred for newsies.   
Snaps swiftly reached back and expertly knotted her curly brown hair into a thick braid. "How do I look?" she eagerly asked Whisper.   
"Just fine, Snaps." Whisper's mind told her that she should wear something tighter, something to catch and hold Oscar's attention, but Oscar loved her this way. He knew she was uncomfortable with herself, and he accepted her for who she was. He didn't care. Which is more than she could say for the newsies.   
  
Enchanted watched them go, until only Midnight and her were left. "So? Whad are we'se gonna do?"   
Midnight struck a match and lit her cigarette, taking a drawn out puff. "I'se feel like pickin' pockets, you?"   
"Damn risky, don'tcha t'ink, wid everyone else pickin' pockets too?" Enchanted asked, looking longingly at the cigarette.   
"No, Ench," Midnight warned, pulling her abundant brown hair into a bun, "Dis cigarette's fo' me, all right? Don't bum one off a me now."   
Enchanted rolled her eyes and ran a hand through her unusually streaked hair. "Pickin' pockets it is," she grumbled, shooting a glance around at the empty room.   
They made their way out onto the streets, passing almost all of their gang members. Bitter, standing on a crate in a corner, was singing as loud as her beautiful voice could carry and was attracting a crowd, while Autumn slipped in and out of the people, lifting a dime here, a nickel there. They passed Uhm and Rook waiting in line at the Distribution Center, and Snaps and Whisper, who waited behind the counter, their arms draped over the grinning Delancey brothers. They passed by Lightning, coughing pitifully alongside of Mimic and Porcelyn. Lightning winked at them as they passed by, and then did an sensational act of falling onto the ground. The lady who had been watching bought the whole act and gave them two pennies each.   
  
Soon, they came to a crowded street. There was no hesitation as Midnight chose an obviously drunk man, and Enchanted chose an obviously rich man, clad in wealthy garments.   
Midnight and Enchanted worked in almost synchronized movements they swooped in on their victims. Midnight reached for the drunk man's pockets, skillfully hiding herself from his sight and dodging his weaving in and out. On her face was a look of extreme concentration as she strained to reach into his pockets. 'Slowly...slowly,' she told herself as she lowered her hand in.   
Enchanted smirked evilly as she felt the cold brush of metal against her fingers. Using her forefinger and middle finger, she pinched them together to clasp the coin in between.   
Midnight triumphantly grasped the money and swiftly pulled her hand back out. But in the middle of it, she didn't see the woman intently studying her. All of a sudden, the woman screeched out, "Thief! Call the police! A thief!"   
Enchanted's concentration was broken as the coins slipped through her fingers and fell heavily back into his pocket. There was tense silent moment between her and the man as he whirled around to stare at her. And then it passed quickly as he snatched her wrist and shouted, "HERE! HERE'S ANOTHER ONE! THEY MUST BE WORKING TOGETHER!" Enchanted whipped her fist out of his grip, plunged her hand into his pocket to snatch up the coin. His reflexes were quick because he once again grabbed her hand. Balling her other hand into a fist, she cuffed him in the stomach, making him double over in pain.   
Midnight's head turned towards the sound of screaming. She smiled maliciously at Enchanted's sudden reaction to their discovery and watched as she slugged the rich man in the stomach. The smile faded away as her head turned yet another direction. A faint, familiar screeching reached her ears. "SHIT!" she swore loudly, not caring about the people gathered around her now. A man tried to grab her and force her down, but she merely elbowed him in the ribs, and kicked backwards to nail him in the shins. As long as she didn't get swamped by too many at one time, she would be all right. "Spell!" she shouted.   
Long ago, it had been decided that to further confuse the bulls about their identities, that they would each be given code names to use in public around each other. The code names were just synonyms to their real names, but they came in useful. After all, how many bulls were successful when they went around asking for a certain 'Feline' or 'Sour'?   
"WHAT?!" Enchanted shouted as she struggled not to get caught in the wave of people.   
"BULLS!"   
"AH DAMN!" was her response. With one more well-placed kick, the man blocking her way crumpled to the ground in agony.   
Without a word, Midnight broke out of the crowd, and followed by Enchanted, she dashed away. Rapid footsteps ensured them of the fact that the bulls were following.   
"Ready, Spell?!" Midnight ordered.   
Enchanted's only answer was a quick thumbs-up. Instantaneously, Midnight broke off to her left, while Enchanted sprinted away on the right.   
Midnight fervently prayed that she would pass one of her gang members, and her prayers were answered as she passed Bitter's singing spot.   
Bitter halted in the middle of the song as she saw Midnight streak past her. "Damn," she said quietly underneath her breath. Catching Autumn's eye, she raised an eyebrow.   
There was no uncertainty as Autumn took hold of a young man and woman and shoved them into the middle of the bulls' path. There was no time for men clad in blue to swerve away as they plowed headlong into the couple. The remaining two cops who remained unharmed were hit from behind with a well-placed marble as Bitter whipped out her slingshot and hastily popped them in the back. When they whirled around to see who had been causing their problems, Autumn distracted them all with a scream of, "FIRE! OVER THERE! AS FIRE!" as the two of them dashed safely away to search for another spot. There was no way now they could work this crowd for money.   
Enchanted had it easier among the vendors. There, she spotted the tall Cats and whistled. Cats' attention was caught as she saw Enchanted approaching, with about 6 bulls on her tails. Azure, who was by her side, hastily and also without hesitation, pulled a small cart out of a vendor's grasp. Ignoring the fat man's protests, she waited until Enchanted had safely passed, and then thrust the cart into the policeman's path. Cats, using her magnificent throwing arm, pegged the bulls with tomatoes, and yet when they whirled around to search for who had defied them, the two girls were gone.   
~*~   
  
"You allowed yaself ta get caught?!" Enchanted yelled at Midnight. "Which allowed me to get caught too!" she shouted criticizingly.   
"Ah, shut up," Midnight said languidly as she rolled over on the grass of Central Park. "We'se got away. And with da money too, right?" She expertly flipped the two quarters towards the sky and caught both in opposite hands.   
Enchanted just smirked. "Dat was kinda fun. We gotta git chased by da bulls more." She got off her back and sat up in a kneeling position to watch the newsies across the street.   
Midnight got up also. "God, they're loud..." she said in annoyance at their shouting and calling, "Someone should jist put 'em outta dere misery."   
Enchanted watched with somber eyes as she saw each face and registered their names. "Hey, look, dere's Snaps' lil brother," she pointed him out.   
"Jeez, he's small," Midnight said in response. "Does Snaps see a lotta him?"   
"Nah. She hates newsies, 'member?"   
"Damn, is dat a cigah? I'se don't get why da lil kids git more smokes den we do," Midnight complained.   
"His name is Snipes," Enchanted said quietly, "He's ok."   
Midnight stared at her in silence. "Yeah. I bet."   
~*~   
  
Uhm took one look at the headline and groaned. "They've gotta be kiddin' me. Dese newsboys have it harder den I thought." Shrugging, she flipped her hair over her shoulder and took a deep breath. "EXTRY EXTRY! STATUE OF LIBERTY ENGULFED BY DA OCEAN!"   
Rook laughed uproariously at the fake headline. "Uhm, dat's gotta be one a da woist headlines I've EVER heard!"   
Uhm didn't answer as she handed out the newspapers to the crowd that had gathered around her. "Thank ya, sir. Thank ya, ma'm. Thank ya..."   
Rook gawked at the girl in the middle of the throng that had hastily gathered around the girl. "Ah, fo' God's..." she muttered, took a deep breath and shouted a creative rendition of the headline. She was once again amazed as another crowd assembled around her. "Well, maybe it ain't as hard as it looks," she came to a conclusion. Sighing, she handed out the papers and snatched a penny from each customer.   
  
Skittery punched Snoddy on the shoulder. "Damn, Snodd, wouldcha move outta me way?!" he demanded, shoving the smaller boy out of his way.   
"Why don'tcha...hey!" he shouted indignantly. He dropped the argument and gestured at the group at their usual selling spot. "Whad da he---"   
Skittery heard a loud, strong voice yell, ""EXTRY EXTRY! STATUE OF LIBERTY ENGULFED BY DA OCEAN!" He froze in his tracks as he realized who they were. "Buncha goils stole OUR sellin' spot!" he exclaimed, moving closer.   
Snoddy jostled a few people out of his way as he struggled to reach the two girls.   
One girl was very thin, with wavy strawberry hair. She didn't look like she had spent too much time out in the sun, and her pale complexion made her seem a bit unhealthy. But her light blue eyes shone with maliciousness and laughter.   
The other girl had long, even, hair which was black, yet glinted with brown highlights. Her dark brown eyes were framed with long eyelashes. As Snoddy approached, she drew away from him and nudged Uhm who stood obliviously by her side.   
"Hello," Rook said coldly, greeting the newsie standing before her.   
"Whad are you'se doin' in our spot?" he asked between clenched teeth.   
"Foist come, foist serve," she recited, "And you'se weren't heah when we arrived."   
"We need dis spot, you'se don't understand," he tried to reason.   
"You'se don't need it like we do," Rook retorted, turning away, her upper lip lifted up in one corner in apparent disfavor.   
"Hey..." Skittery reached up and pulled her shoulder back towards him.   
"Don't touch me!" she shouted, whipping her shoulder out of his grasp.   
Uhm watched with distressed eyes. "Rook..." she cautioned.   
Rook reached up and slapped Skittery as hard as she could with the back of her hand. "Keep ya rogue hands off a me!" she declared.   
Skittery gasped quietly, unable to keep the shock from his eyes. Wrath and animosity played across his face as his cheek turned a passionate red. It was all he could do not to reach over and throttle her. Instead, he knelt down, scooped up some mud resting at their feet. And then, he chucked it at Rook's gray clothes.   
Rook looked down at the spreading stain the mud was making on her decently clean clothes.   
Uhm winced and looked down at the cobblestone. "Oh, you'se in trouble now..." she said in a sing-song voice.   
Rook growled fiercely and jumped on him, bringing him to the ground easily. "Clean clothes!" she roared, "Do you'se know how long it took me ta wash dese damn things?!"   
"Think I care?!" Skittery yelled as he rolled over and sat on top of her.   
"I SURE AS HELL DO!" Rook replied, punching him on the chest, making him gasp once again in pain.   
He entwined his hands within her hair, shoving her head painfully onto the street.   
"STOP!" Uhm demanded, ready to join the fight, had it been for the fact that Snoddy had forced her away.   
  
Jack heard the noise first. "Whad is dat, Race?" he questioned, not looking up from the pape he was reading.   
"Sounds like a fight," Race responded nonchalantly.   
"Between who?" Jack asked as he flipped the page.   
"A goil and Skittery," Race answered without much care.   
"Oh." Jack turned the page and perused the newspaper some more. "Wait, a goil and WHO?!" he asked, "Ah, crap, Skittery, whad are you'se doin'?!" he muttered as he got up and hastened to the street corner. "Hey, hey, break it up, let her go Skitt!"   
  
Enchanted heard Rook's voice first. "Midnight, whad is dat?"   
"Rook. She's prolly bitchin' someone out," Midnight said.   
"But..." a few moments later she heard yet another familiar voice piping up above the rest of the clamor. "Dat's Uhm!" she said. "Trouble, Mid!" she exclaimed as she got to her feet and dashed to the street where she had heard the noises. The first thing she saw were newsies, gathered around two moving bodies, rolling around on the ground, spitting retorts at each other and hitting each other at every opportunity.   
Jack groaned. Why now?! Unhesitantly, he fought to the middle of the crowd and pushed Skittery off the girl. "Dat's enough, Skittery!" he ordered, "Calm DOWN!"   
Enchanted fished Rook off the ground. "Da HELL is goin' on, Rook? Where's Uhm?!"   
"Heah..." Uhm feebly raised a hand.   
"Whad happened?!" Midnight screeched when she saw Rook's bruised arms.   
"Dey started it!" Rook accused, "We'se were sellin' ouah papes, and dey came along and tried ta steal ouah spot!"   
"YOUR spot?! We'se had dis exact location fo' a month!"   
"Well, how come we'se never heard your lazy-ass mouths heah?!"   
Midnight reached over and restrained Rook. "Calm down!"' she ordered. "Calm down." She glowered at Jack. "Give dem dere spots back."   
"No," he flat out refused, tipping his hat onto his head. "Me boys have had dis---"   
"Jacky-boy, you've been getting too big for your britches, huh? Get your newsies out of our spot, or I swear to God you'll regret it," Enchanted threatened, "We'se need ta eat, Jack! So shove it, and move out!"   
Jack stared at her. Yes, he had once known this girl long ago. But not anymore.   
~*~   
  
There was a silence as Midnight entered the warehouse room. With pleasure she noted that Giggles was in the room, and that she hadn't left, or disobeyed her.   
"How'd da meetin' go?" Autumn asked, twirling a cigarette through her fingers.   
"Like crap," Azure answered as she too entered. "Da boy didn't listen ta us."   
"Da thing is," Enchanted explained as she appeared, "We'se do need dat sellin' spot, and every one we can snatch. We'se can't do dis day to day. Gotta get a job and all."   
"As NEWSIES?!" Snaps asked incredulously.   
"As newsies," Enchanted confirmed. "Sorry, goils."   
"And sides, if dey don't give it up, dey'se gonna have a hell of a rumble on their hands. Dat sellin' spot is rightfully da property of da Midnight Gang," Midnight proclaimed proudly.   
"Don'tcha think we're taking it a bit too seriously?" Uhm asked in her corner.   
Silence greeted this question.   
"No," Uhm answered her own question quietly, "We'se doin' exactly what's right."   
~*~ 


	3. Chapter 3

~*~  
The sun rose on yet another summer day in Manhattan. For a moment, everything was relatively calm, quiet, unlike New York in the day, and in the middle of the night. The sun pried its fingers into open windows, down streets, across the Brooklyn Bridge. And it came to reveal a group of girls, moving swiftly along the empty streets.  
Rook raised the sleeve of her mud-stained shirt to exhibit a purple bruise. "Stupid ass," she muttered cynically.  
Cats giggled at the remark, and then stepped quickly to the front of the line where Enchanted and Midnight were conversing articulately.  
"Hey," Enchanted turned to Whisper, "You shoah Oscar and Morris won't mind us comin' dis early?"  
"Fo' da last time," Whisper said in an annoyed tone, "Ench, he loves us, arrite? He ain't gonna be pissed cuz we came much earlier den da newsies. Dey even agreed ta meet us heah!"  
Enchanted rolled her eyes. "Ok, ok. Jist checkin'. Wouldn't wanna ruin anythin' fo' you goils, huh?"   
Snaps expelled a sudden breath in irritation. "I'se wouldn't be talkin' Enchanted, at least we have boyfriends."  
Her nonchalant smiled wilted on her face, and there was a brief hurt expression. And then she looked up, all business. "Watch whad you'se sayin', Snaps. Dere was no reason ta bite my head off."  
"Sorry," Snaps said timidly, "I'se didn't mean it, Enchanted."  
Midnight comfortingly placed an arm around Enchanted's shoulder. "Hey, Enchanted, da only reason da boys ain't flockin' ta us is cuz they're afraid, all right? And good reason too," Midnight boasted.  
Enchanted grinned, bad mood vanished. They continued onto the Distribution Center in silence.   
~*~  
  
"Hey," Kloppman poked at Racetrack. "HEY!"   
Racetrack jerked and rolled off his bed.   
"That's more like it! I wanna see some movement! Come on, get up, get up, the papes aren't gonna sell themselves!" Kloppman moved through the room, babbling threats and poking various boys with his long fingers.   
Race stood up, swearing all the while. "Stupid..." he yawned sleepily and plodded to the bathroom, eager to clean himself up. After swabbing his face with a towel, he encountered Dutchy.   
"Hey, ya seen Books?" was his greeting. Solely in love with his romanticist, yet somehow tough, girl, his first thought when he got up in the morning was, of course, about her.  
"Nah, but she's prolly out by da fiah escape. You know her," Race replied matter-of-factly.  
"Oh, yeah. Could ya git her fo' me?" he requested simply.  
Race shrugged, murmuring consent. "All right, I'm goin'." Snapping his suspenders onto his shoulders, he made his way across the crowded room, to where the window stood ajar. "Hey, Books?" He poked his head out of the window, and spotted the Asian girl. "Whatcha doin'?"  
Books blinked and looked up from the pad of paper she had been writing on. "Time to sell papes already?" she asked curiously, folding the piece of paper so that he couldn't read what she had written on it in her light handwriting.  
Race nodded, and craned his neck in a foolish attempt to read what was on the paper. "What did ya write?" he demanded.  
"Jeez, it's just a poem!" Books exclaimed in answer, "I didn't have a book to read, so I decided that I had to write something."  
"Finished Jane Eyre already, huh," Race noted, mainly to himself. She had started reading it about a week ago. He watched her once, as she submerged herself in its pages, disregardful of the whole world. When he had picked up the book, to read at least a sentence, it had muddled his brain, making him more confused than he had ever been in his life. Books had to explain to him that 'preemptory tones' meant a voice full of authority, and then he got the sentence, but without Books, he never could have read it himself. "You'se gonna get anudda book tomorrow?" he inquired, knowing the answer.  
She nodded, her emerald green eyes catching the light with excitement. "If Mr. Barnes can get one for me. He promised he would try to get his hands on a used copy of Romeo and Juliet. It was written by Shakespeare, so it's supposed to be really good."  
Race nodded, pretending to be interested. "Dat's great. Hey, uh, Dutchy was looking for you."  
"He was?" Books immediately perked up, and unthinkingly put a hand up to smoothen out her dark, brown hair. It turned out to be impossible, being that it was long, and would flutter in the wind, and she soon gave it up. "Wanna go in?" she asked, standing up.  
Race agreed with a grunt, and lit a match to take a drag of his cigar. "By da way, whad was your poem about?" he questioned, still very inquisitive.  
"If you wanna know," Books admitted with a sigh, "It was about that boy over there on the corner," she pointed. "He's been standing there for about an hour already, and he keeps looking at the sign over the door. Do you think he can read?" she babbled on as she went in through the window. Race shrugged and looked over, giving him one last glance before he entered after her.  
~*~  
  
He jumped guiltily as he saw that girl point at him, and grew even more paranoid as he watched the look that boy shot him. But that was no reason to be afraid to enter, was it? He struggled with indecision for a moment, before movement on the street began to increase. Then, he gathered his courage and plunged for the Lodging House.  
~*~  
  
Whisper saw Oscar first, and she smiled as he kissed her on the cheek, and then on the neck, without stopping until Azure let out a loud whoop. That stopped whatever romantic thoughts were spinning around them.   
Snaps walked over to Morris and smiled alluringly. He grinned back, and he carelessly draped an arm around her neck, while she fastened herself to his side.   
"So..." Oscar began, "Whad's da plan?"  
"You got today's news?" Midnight shot back, in a business-like manner.   
"Shoah, bribed da kid workin' at da place dat makes 'em. Got a couple hundred," Morris offered.  
"Sounds good ta me!" Enchanted said happily, glad that the first part of their plan was working as it had been intended to. The gang followed Morris and Oscar towards the Distribution Center.  
~*~  
  
"H---hi," he began nervously as he saw Kloppman look up from his desk. "I would like to become a newsie, please."  
'Mighty polite, this one,' Kloppman thought as he looked him over, 'Hasn't been out on the streets long. Let's just keep it that way.' "Sure!" Kloppman said whole-heartedly. "First you have to write your name in that book," he pointed at the dusty brown book lying on the corner of the counter.  
He obligingly picked up a pen waiting right beside it, and started to scribble his name in. Kloppman watched him and took the book away to read it. "Rowell Hunt?" he sounded out the name.  
The boy nodded consent. "Yup. What do I do now, sir?"  
"First thing ya gotta learn is that my name is not sir, it's Mr. Kloppman. Sometimes just Kloppman, all right?"  
"All right," came the meekish reply.  
"Now, you go on upstairs. The newsboys and girls are just starting to get ready. Look for one in a cowboy hat, and you'll find Jack. He'll show you the ropes."  
Rowell bobbed his head up and down before ascending the stairs.  
"Mighty polite, this one," Kloppman grumbled as he straightened up his counter. "Mighty polite."  
~*~  
  
"All right," Midnight barked, making them all jump. "Fan out, goils, and pick out a sellin' spot. It would make it bettah if da sellin' spot belonged ta one of da Manhattan newsies."  
Azure grinned happily. "Hey, Bittah. Wanna come wid me? We'se gotta find out where Jacky-boy sells his papes."  
"Seriously?" Bitter asked, a wide smile on her face. "Ya shoah you'se wanna try ta piss him off like dat?"  
"It's all in fun!" she exclaimed, "I love watching him react!"  
Lightning grabbed Uhm's hand and dragged her off to find a potential place where she could sell as many papes as she could. Mimic, Porcelyn, and Cats decided to branch off into a crowded street. Giggles chose to accompany Autumn to Tibby's, where they would work the crowd. And Whisper and Snaps were to stay at the Distribution Center, choosing to pester the newsies when they would show up.  
Midnight perched on a bench, watching her gang spread out. Smiling evilly, she waited for the spectacle to commence.  
~*~  
  
Jack flashed the new boy a confident smile, contrary to what he was feeling. "So, you'se gonna be a newsie?"  
He nodded, making his thick black hair fall in front of his eyes.   
"Aw right." He tipped the black cowboy hat onto his head. "Whad's your name, kid?"  
"I ain't a kid," he suddenly snapped back, "I'm 16 years old."  
"Ok, ok," Jack raised his hands in a symbol of peace. "Anyways, whad's your name?"  
"Rowell Hunt," he said softly, as if to atone for his momentary loss of control.  
"Whea ya from, Rowell?" Jack asked, as he tightened his rag of a bandanna around his neck.  
"Seattle. Washington"  
"Is it ok if I call ya Seattle den?"  
"Why not just Rowell?" he asked in his soft voice.  
"Cuz heah we all have special names. Washington, huh? Long way away from home..." Jack deftly changed the subject.  
"Yeah." Rowell, just dubbed Seattle, allowed no more about the subject.   
"So, da foist thing ya gotta learn is..." he stopped dead in his tracks. He heard something he wasn't supposed to hear the very moment he stepped out of the Lodging House.  
  
"SCANDAL OVERTHROWS DA WHITE HOUSE!"  
"ROACHES IN BROOKLYN OVERRUN TENENEMENTS! MANY LIVES AT STAKE!"  
"Yeah, well, dere ain't no udda roach in Brooklyn except Spot Conlon." Cats made the last remark, her spiteful tongue getting ahead of her again.  
  
Jack Kelly bit back a shout of rage and as calmly as he could, came closer to Cats. "Hey!" he winced at the angry tone his voice had taken. "May I ask," he whispered through gritted teeth, "Whad da hell you are doin' wid dat pape?" He pointed at the loose newspaper gripped tightly in her hand.  
"I'm sellin' it," she shot back, "Whad does it look like, dumb-ass?"  
Seattle watched the whole incident unfold. Clearly, he had arrived at a wrong time. 'I knew it,' he thought ruefully, 'I knew I should have went to Bronx instead of Manhattan!'  
"Nah, dat's impossible. Cuz da no one gits da papers earlier den da newsies..." he trailed off as it clicked in his head. "Ain't dere someone in ya gang dat's attached ta da Delancey bruddas?"  
"Oh," Cats shrugged casually, "Snaps and Whisper are."  
Jack swiftly turned on his heel and said some vulgar, obscene words underneath his breath. Getting control of his anger---or so he thought---- he faced Seattle. "Hey, why don'tcha go find Race? He's da short Italian who's smokin' on a cigah. I gotta check some things out."  
Although the thought of confronting someone new made him unreasonably nervous, he nodded compliantly. This did not seem like a good time to disobey Jack. Seattle brushed back the two strands of hair that always hung down in front of his icy blue eyes, and headed back into the Lodging House. 'Too bad,' he thought shrewdly, 'Watching Jack getting chewed out by some girls might have been amusing.'  
~*~  
  
"Aw right," Jack's hand darted forward and grabbed Cats' arm. He twisted it in his sudden flash of anger. She hissed with pain and socked him in the face. Momentarily, he reeled backwards.   
In that moment, Azure and Bitter appeared by her side. Seemingly able to sniff out trouble (or the fact that Azure wanted to find the boy she had so roughly kissed) they boldly stood on either side of her.  
"Hello Cowboy," Bitter said in a hostile, cold voice, reserved only for the people she disliked, or held grudges against. Azure on the other hand, beamed a wide, dangerous smile.  
"Hello again, stranger," she said in a lyrical voice. "Didya miss me?"  
Jack snorted, a negative answer to her question. "Whad are you doin' out heah so goddamn early? Only newsies are supposed ta have all da papes, and we don't git dem until we git ta da Distribution Center."  
"Well, like your quick mind worked out," Bitter snapped, "Oscar and Morris got dem fo' us."  
"You---what---how?!" Jack bellowed ragingly.  
Azure's grin didn't falter as she stepped forward. "Dere ain't no reason ta be angry, Jacky-boy. We all decided---cuz we loved all of you'se so much--- dat you'se should take da day off. Leave da pape sellin' ta us," the grin had gotten so much more malevolent that it sent a tiny chill down Jack's spine.   
"YOU'VE GOTTA BE KIDDIN' ME!" Jack screeched, "WE NEED DA DAMN MONEY WE EARN EACH DAY! WE WERE HERE FOIST!"  
Cats, however, got the last word in. "Yeah, well, ladies before gentlemen. Oh, and beauty before age and just plain butt-ugliness." They spun around, and made their way down the street, still hawking headlines as they went and leaving a seething Jack behind them.  
~*~  
  
"So..." Race struck the match along the brick of the Lodging House, "Whad's ya name?"  
"Seattle," the boy answered smoothly.  
"Yeah, well you picked da wrong time ta show up," Race commented, puffing on his cigar, just like Cowboy had predicted.  
"I noticed," Seattle said grimly, "What's going on with Jack and those girls?"  
"Actually, it's more like dose goils and da rest a us," Race gestured around the room.   
"Why are they pissed at the Manhattan newsies?" Seattle felt like a child, asking a question a minute.  
"Ah, it was all right until Skittery ovah dere," Race pointed at a crabby-looking boy with brown hair, slumped in a corner, "Touched one a da goils. Like da ovahprotective people dey are, da rest a da gang got pissed at us. Guess dere's a battle goin' on now. Doesn't help dat Enchanted is one a dem either."  
"Enchanted?" Seattle was more than interested now, he was definitely enthralled.  
"Yeah. Close friend of Midnight herself. But I'se shoah you'se don't wanna hear dis. Let's go ta da Distribution Center, find out if we can sell anything by tonight. Though by da looks of it, we probably won't..." he grumbled as a huge group streamed down the stairs and out the door.   
Seattle rolled the name around in his mind. Enchanted. Hmm...he reluctantly followed the rest of the boys out the door.  
~*~  
  
A few hours later, Jack angrily slammed his load of papers down on the wooden table of Tibby's. "Ah, damn it all ta hell!"  
A passing waitress bit back a wave of laughter and turned to Jack, who had fallen heavily against the rickety chair. She brushed back her dark, curly blonde hair, which had been hastily pulled back in a untidy bun, and batted her green-gray eyes at him flirtatiously. "What's wrong, Jack? Didn't sell more than your usual?"  
Jack scowled strongly, ignoring her wide grin. "I only sold about 30, Sugah. You know how much of a crime dat is?"  
Sugar Plum ignored the terminology of her name and gaped in disbelief. "But you always sell a hundred!" she argued.  
"And dat was when I was always da foist in line! But not today! No, Skittery jist had ta attack dat goil, who jist happened ta be part a da Midnight Gang!" The last words were emphazised as the door once again opened and slammed shut. Sugar Plum looked up towards the entrance and visibly brightened. "Dutchy!"   
But even Dutchy glared at SP, his companion and confidante and plopped down next to Jack, an angry look on his face.   
Sugar Plum backed away slowly. Normally, she would have loved to talk to Dutchy, but not with that 'must kill someone now' appearance. A few years ago, Dutchy and SP were close friends, but when she (being the oldest newsie out of all of them) decided she wanted something other than being a newsie, she found Wally Frank. A waiter that had caught her eye while serving her a hot dog, she asked him straight out if she could have a job at Tibby's, and whaddya know, they slowly fell in love. Dutchy, a few weeks later, had met Books and had done the same.   
Sugar Plum smiled at her passing boyfriend, who was skillfully balancing a tray laden with cokes and roast beef sandwiches. He smiled tactfully at her while he hurried to another table, giving her enough courage to step back to Dutchy and Jack. "So tell me about this Midnight Gang," she demanded, easing herself carefully in a chair right across from Jack.   
So, once again, only with more details, Dutchy sullenly spouted off the details about the events that had led to this day. "And only 10 papes sold!" he raved.  
Sugar Plum turned this over in her mind before coming to a decision. "The best t'ing ta do..." she said cautiously, "Is ta cool down a lil. Obviously, dese goils don't get confrontational until people actually confront dem."  
Dutchy smiled comprehendingly. "T'anks, Sugah. Always were a good one ta turn to." The incorrect usage of her name earned him a swat on the shoulder and a box to his side. He yelped in pain and scurried halfway out of his seat to avoid the oncoming blows.  
Jack nodded slowly, still lost in his thoughts. "It doesn't help dat Enchanted's one of their leaders. You 'membah how damn defiant she can be."  
This stopped the rivalry flat between the two of them. "Enchanted," SP mused. "How is she?"  
"She looks like she's doin' great," was the reply. There was a tense instant of silence as all three of them pondered and reminisced on events of the past. And then, SP broke it with a sudden sigh. "So, what can I get fo' you?" she asked, returning to her professionalism.  
"You know we can't afford anything," Jack mumbled through gritted teeth.   
Sugar Plum rolled her eyes good-naturedly. "Den it's all on me," she offered, after thinking it over for less than a second, "In fact, bring da whole crew. Haven't seen em fo' 'bout a month, it seems."  
"You're serious?" Dutchy cried, incredulously.   
SP smiled. "Hey, somethin' good has ta come outta all a dis, right? Bring em ovah!" 


	4. Chapter 4

~*~  
  
As the sun rose the next morning, and its rays struck through the open window of the abandoned warehouse, one of the fourteen girls lazily heaped in makeshift cots stirred. She threw back her reddish hair from her face and groaned in protest. Rolling over, she attempted to snatch back the last few glimpses of her ragged sleep, and gave up when she heard the deafening sounds outside the building. Carriage wheels, and horses, and...was that newsies bellowing?! Growling, she reached over and poked a peaceful Lightning in the stomach.   
Lightning muttered something indecipherable under her breath and swatted her hand away. "I'm up," she yawned, and proceeded to shake Uhm awake.   
It went around the room, from Azure, who had the now-empty liquor bottle in her hand. Then it went to Porcelyn, who had her face pressed into the straw of her cot and could have suffocated at any time had it not been for Whisper hitting her on the head to wake her up.   
Of course, as soon as Midnight was aware of all that was going on around her, and Enchanted had finally learned how to deaden the pain pounding inside her stomach and brain, they immediately took control.  
"DAMN!" Midnight said heavily, "Of COURSE they got ta all da papes befoah us! Now, whad are we gonna do?!"  
Enchanted took one look out the window and shrugged. "If we get dere fast enough, we might be able ta salvage a workin' day."  
So they crowded at the door, and started making their plans.  
  
~*~  
  
Seattle swept his thick, black hair out of his eyes for what seemed like the thousandth time today. He turned to face Racetrack, who was trotting along, searching for a seemingly good selling spot. He was rambling on about some guy named David and how good it was to get him away from school to sell a little with them. Personally, Seattle could care less. All he cared about right now was to sell all his papers, and get through another day.  
Then again, that was all he could have afforded to care about in Oregon Territory. Get his money any way he could, stuff his mouth with whatever food he could buy, and find another place to spend the cold, lonely night. Once there had been Adora, a girl he had clung to ever since he was 13, a girl who would make his stomach tighten with whatever words she would utter. Adora, with the light, blonde hair and the golden eyes. Almost like a hawk.   
"Hey, Seattle? Whatcha thinkin' bout?" Race suddenly disrtupted his train of thoughts.  
"Nothing. Hey, when are we gonna get there? I just want to get rid of these," he gestured to the pile of newspapers he was tightly grasping on to in explanation to his eagerness.  
"Yeah, hold on, we'se jist gonna talk ta Davey for a few minutes," Race said, regardless of the annoyed look on Seattle's face.  
Seattle grimaced and nodded in agreement. What else could he do? Race was his lifeline here. He trotted along behind him obediently, letting the sun of New York warm his bare arms and the back of his neck.  
  
~*~  
  
Uhm swore colorfully under her breath, a whole dictionary's worth of curses slipping out of her mouth. Her head was constantly being hammered down with pain, courtesy to last night's consequences. She wished intensely that she was like Giggles; she could drink all day and night, and never get the tiniest bit of a hangover.  
Lifting her head to the sun, letting the warmth temporarily heal her, before the brightness made her squint, she hobbled forward, the small weight of the bundle of papers hindering her ever so slightly.  
She didn't see the crate lying directly in her path.  
Her feet crashed into the side of it, and she stumbled to the rough cobblestone, her knee crushing the light, rotting wood of the crate.  
  
David turned from the busy crowd at the lamppost where he was positioned when he heard a huge crash and high cry of pain. "Hold on, ma'am," he mouthed politely, tipping his hat to the impatient woman with her gloved hand outstretched for the front page.  
David hurried to where he had heard the source of the noise. Sighing restlessly, he scanned the street for whatever had made it. In the corner, almost concealed by an alley, he spotted a whimpering body with strawberry-blonde hair and an ashy complexion. After further examination, he realized that the whimpering body was actually a girl around his age. Stepping quickly, he rushed to her side. "Hey, you ok?" he asked, consolingly.  
  
Uhm, being put through hell and worse, didn't react the way she should have. Instead, with the pain in her stomach and head plaguing her, and now with the jarring of her knee, she snapped. "GET AWAY FROM ME!" she shouted at the boy who had appeared (almost as if summoned), and forced him backwards with a well-placed kick in the stomach.  
  
There was a stunned silence from David, whose air had been forced out through his diaphragm. "What was that for?" he managed to wheeze out, staggering forward and going down on his knees to try to help Uhm again.  
  
A blend of panic and rage was storming in Uhm's light blue eyes. "I SAID---GET AWAY!" she reached up and hit him with her palm and then more effectively with her knuckles.   
  
"CALM DOWN!" David roared, trying to dodge her flying fists. Firmly grasping her by the shoulders, he shook her and then drove her firmly into the cobblestone. A shocked cry escaped her mouth and he knew that he had shaken her too hard. "Sorry," he muttered apologetically, and let her shoulders go for one instant.  
  
In that one instant, Uhm shoved him away from her, tottered up on shaky legs and fell forward to drag him down to the cobblestone. It would have worked too, had it been that that day, she wasn't feeling particularly capable of tackling anybody. Instead, David lost his balance, regained it, swooped Uhm up in his arms, and drove her backward into a nearby brick building. Her head bounced painfully against the brick and amplified the pain until there was nothing but billows and waves of darkness.  
~*~  
  
To passerbys, all of this had happened in merely seconds, and as Race jogged up to David, he looked down in horror. "David, dat's one a Midnight's!" he choked out.  
"Well, it ain't my fault!" David jumped to his own defense, "I came here to help her and she attacked me!"  
  
Seattle looked down at the girl and considered her. Well, this Midnight was not going to be pleased, that was for sure. The girl was unconcious, her strawberry hair spread out on scratched shoulders from being rammed into cobblestone and brick, her arms with bruises from where David had held her too tightly.   
David on the other hand, didn't look so good himself either. A gash had opened above his lip, and blood was pouring out of his nose. Seattle turned his attention to a distraught Race, who was babbling even more fiercely now.  
  
"Dis ain't good, Davey, ain't good at all! Where a Midnight is, annuda one's shoah ta be!"  
True to his word, another girl with light brownish-blondish hair and copper highlights appeared to materialize by the unconcious girl's shoulder.  
Race recognized her to be Jack's 'lover' (they had been poking fun at him the day before), or the girl that had kissed him so forcefully. 'Azure,' he registered with a flash of remembrance.   
Her eyes were no longer full of laughter as they had been earlier that day, but rather of harmful intent. "Who did dis?" she asked in a low, quiet voice, as if she would rather shout, but keep it all cooped in. No one dared to reply, but she looked up at David's face and got the answer. "Oh. I should have known. Annuda one a Jack's group, huh?" Without waiting for a response, she whistled loudly, two high notes, and one low. Almost instantly, two girls broke away from the crowd to dash to Azure's side.  
  
Enchanted gazed down, horrified, wanting to lash back at David. Ugh, how she hated Jack right now. But something inside her mind warned her to stay still and to wait a few minutes before she reacted. Something told her that this wasn't a direct result of David's foolishness.  
Midnight, however, didn't hesitate. "What da HELL happened heah?!" she snapped, her brown hair falling in front of her eyes as she knelt down by Uhm. Two minute furrows etched itself in between her eyebrows as she frowned slightly.  
"Him! David! Jack's right-hand guy!" Azure pointed fiercely, and then lowered her finger to turn to Midnight. "We can't take dis no longer, Midnight! We gotta retaliate or else they'll hoit all a us!"  
The words worked its way into Midnight's head, and before Enchanted could stop her, she had blurted out the words to Seattle, David, Race, and a late in coming Jack. "I'm declarin' a rumble!"  
"What?" Jack panted in astonishment.  
"A RUMBLE! MANHATTAN AND MIDNIGHT, YOU AGAINST ME, NEXT WEEK!"  
Enchanted hung her head in desperation, and Racetrack gaped at the infuriated Midnight, already feeling the beginnings of helplessness starting in his chest.  
Seattle rested his body on the brick building that Uhm had been slammed against. He watched the whole conversation unfold before his icy blue eyes, and he watched the girl he assumed as Midnight scream at Jack, David, and Race. He observed as Azure kept making sidelong glances from Uhm to Jack, as if making a big decision. And most of all, he watched the one girl who stayed silent throughout this whole time, looking back towards him with her tempestuous eyes. Her black hair, not unlike his own, was streaked with caramel brown. With a shock, he realized that her pupils were surrounded with a diminutive ring of gold.  
'Well,' he thought for one second, and afterwards, berated himself for it, 'Maybe it wasn't so bad that I came here after all.'   
~*~ 


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I don't own Newsies, cept Enchanted.  
  
Note: I'm so sorry for leaving you guyz hanging for so long. I'm gonna get   
this finished SOON! But it's a complicated plot, so it might take more time!  
Thankz again!!!  
  
  
~*~  
  
"Midnight, I told you, I told you not ta do things too damn hastily! God, look what you've done! A fight...a rumble...against Manhattan?!"  
"We'se da toughest goils heah," Midnight mumbled, her eyes on a distant place. It was evident that her attention was elsewhere and not with Enchanted.  
"But dat's exactly it! We are goils! And dat's a whole load a guys right dere! And Spot! Spot Conlon is Jack's best friend!"   
Midnight allowed Enchanted to rant on about her inconsiderate and insufficient planning before she looked up with eyes of visible warning. "You don't hafta do dis if you'se don't wanna. Jist go and join em for all I care."  
Enchanted stopped her tirade abruptly. "I'se nevah said anything 'bout leavin'. Your damn mouth got all a us into dis, and we're gonna have to dig our way out. All of us," she spat out the last sentence as she spun around, stalking away with large strides, as if to distance herself from her so-called 'best friend'.  
Cats had never seen Midnight and Enchanted fight before. She amended that last thought. She had seen them fight plenty of times, only then, they had been joking around. She burrowed her head into her arms, and didn't say anything. For once, her sharp tongue had been silenced long enough not to say anything too hasty...unlike Midnight's tongue.  
~*~  
  
Race stepped along the side of the crumbling warehouse, grumbling at the dust that was gathering on his shoes. The sun was setting, and earlier on that day, Midnight had spat out her challenge to Jack.   
  
In a state of desperate thinking, he had snuck out of the Lodging House by way of the fire escape and had made his way along the streets, looking for a sign of where the Midnight Gang were bunking. Once again, Lady Luck had favored him and had given him the fortune to look up at exactly the right time, just as a girl with a single, tight braid and adorned in leather passed by, her arm snaked around a familiar figure. With a disgusted shiver, he identified the face: Morris Delancey. One of Midnight's was known for going with the Delanceys. He thanked Lady Luck ferociously as he trailed along behind them unobtrusively, making sure not to stand out too much from his surroundings.   
Finally, the revoltingly happy couple had led him to this aged warehouse on the outskirts of the city. The girl disappeared inside, while Morris started off on his way back to his home.   
And so, Race was here, creeping along the side of the building like some dusty spider not wanting to be crushed by human hands. There had to be another entrance other than the front door where he had watched Snaps vanish into the disintegrating building.  
  
Azure gasped and jerked from her daydreaming as she noticed a slight movement from the corner of her eye. She stepped away from the windows and blended into the shadows, watching the corner below her. There it was again! Someone's shadow, slinking near right side of the front entrance.   
Moments earlier, Enchanted and Midnight had gotten into a gigantic argument, in which Enchanted had to walk away from. Azure knew that if she approached the girl, who was ensconced somewhere in a shady room, allowing her thoughts to settle, she would start spitting out retorts and devil-may-care responses. According to these deliberations, she chose to go to the other girl: Midnight.  
Midnight perched on the middle of the floor, where Enchanted had last left her, brooding on what the spitfire had shouted at her. Her arms were crossed over her chest, so tight that her fingers left imprints on her upper arms where they clenched and unclenched spasmodically. The anger was uncontrollable in her now, and she needed something---someone to vent it on.   
Azure crept quietly in the room and licked her lips nervously. "Midnight?"  
"What?" was the abrupt answer.  
"I know dis ain't da time, but I thought ya should know dat someone is creepin' along outside da building like he wants ta git in."  
Midnight exhaled suddenly and languidly stood up, allowing herself to look unhurried and tranquil. But inside, her thoughts were muddled and brewing, like a dark cup of coffee or a gray thunderstorm cloud. 'Probably someone from da Manhattan newsies,' was her first thought when she heard it, but she didn't let that thought flicker out. "Go back upstairs," she roughly commanded. If she was going to deal with Jack, she wanted to do it without Azure hanging around. She had seen the looks on Azure's face, seen the contradicting emotions flit across the cerulean eyes. And she doubted that if she were to fight Jack that Azure would just stand by and let it happen.  
Azure nodded compliantly and lightly jumped up the stairs, wanting to be out of the anger stained room, not giving it a second thought.  
~*~  
  
Midnight opened the door silently; knowing that if she just shoved it haphazardly, it would creak and draw attention to her. The sun had just set, the moon was still low in the sky. As if adding to her good fortune, it was a quarter moon, dim and faint, and wouldn't cast much light on their would-be fighting ground.   
On the right side of the warehouse, she saw the shadow that Azure had noticed. She skulked along, pressed against the wall stealthily, but even with her knowledge of surreptitious movement, the figure had heard her and spun around to acknowledge her.   
There was no time for thought as Midnight drew the switchblade from her pocket and jumped on Race. In an instant, her knife was against the warm skin of his neck.  
Race gasped. It had happened in a millisecond. He had heard the tell tale sounds of feet scuffling behind him, pivoted, and caught a glimpse of Midnight, her chestnut hair streaming behind her, and her eyes narrowed like a feline's eyes. He vaguely made the comparison of her to a predator, hunting down her prey before he hit the ground with an audible thud. The breath was knocked out of him and he struggled for a moment before he recognized the cold touch of metal against the fragile skin of his throat.  
Midnight allowed her legs to pin down Race's before she realized it wasn't Jack she was holding down. Relenting, she released the blade from his neck, but kept her body weight centered on his stomach. "Whad da hell do you'se t'ink you're doin'?!" she growled.  
"Beggin' fo' mercy?!" was Race's reckless answer.  
Midnight, stunned at his answer, allowed a chuckle to escape her lips before she was upturned by his knees.  
Race flew up from the ground and held Midnight away at arm's length. She, on the other hand, vied for another way to hurt him with her fingernails. "MIDNIGHT!" he bellowed, "CALM DOWN! I AIN'T HEAH ON SOME SPYIN' MISSION OR SUMPTIN'!"  
Midnight, in her insane fury, had to take a few more minutes before she comprehended what he had said. Breathing frenziedly, she freed him and stepped back warily, brushing back her hair from her forehead. "Whad did you come heah fo' den?" she said in nearly more than a whisper, astonished that he wasn't here to attack one of her girls.  
"Ta talk. Is dere any way..." Race gasped out, "dat we could stop dis? Please?" he begged. "Not dat I'se a coward or anythin', but da newsies don't need a rumble, and I'se shoah dat you'se don't need one eidder."   
Midnight smiled, a sincere smile, nothing like her impudent smirk. "Thanks fo' your concern," she said in a hardened voice, "But it's a rumble, and it's on, arrite?" She watched his shoulders sink, his chin dropping to his chest, and she marveled at the fact that he had gone through so much trouble just to talk to her. She came a little closer, saw him take an instinctive step back before he stopped. "Jist go home, ok? Dere's no use in talkin' wid me. As Enchanted says, me tongue gets me in enough trouble already." She took another step, and he stepped backwards again.  
Race saw what she was doing. She was forcing him out of his own space, forcing him to stay on his feet. But she was so close. Close enough to compare their heights. He realized that she wasn't much taller than he was, which was a miracle on itself since he was short for his age.  
Midnight lifted her foot, intending to scare him enough to set him running. But she was so close to him, close enough to smell a scent that stopped her in her tracks. The familiar smell of cigar smoke on a man's skin. She bit her lip, unable to halt the memory that had pushed itself from the farthest corners of her mind to the surface. The memory of her father, inhaling the sickly sweet smoke, puffing away on the brown tube...  
She inhaled rapidly and shivered, as if to shake away the memory. "Just leave, Racetrack. Get da hell outta heah," she turned around abruptly and stormed into the warehouse, unable to hide the impact the smell had had on her.  
Racetrack stood there, bewildered at the sudden turn of events. It was almost as if she had seen something in him, something in him no one had ever bothered to notice. He continued to stand motionless for five minutes, wondering if this was another one of Midnight's tricks. When she didn't reappear he frowned and started to walk away in a daze. How strange was this getting?  
Had he looked over his shoulder, he would have noticed that behind the smudged, broken windows, a figure was watching him.   
  
Midnight blinked, and allowed a forbidden tear to run down her cheek.  
~*~  
Jack balanced himself on the window sill, waiting for Racetrack to appear on the metal grating. He had observed his sneaky escape from the Lodging House and the uneasy environment. Everyone had been unsettled and restless, jumping at every little sound. Even Seattle, the newcomer, was shaky, and it wasn't even his problem.  
Jack, being the diplomatic leader, had discussed the notion of the rumble with the girls, and had watched with a grim eye as they drank in the information that their boys might get hurt. Books had disappeared with her notebook, while SB and Bumlets went for a 'walk'. Fairy was with Blink, of course, probably doing whatever her heart desired.   
But this had been hours ago, and while everyone settled into their beds, Jack waited anxiously for Race to return. When the even, deep breathing of all his newsies told him that everyone had fallen asleep, he allowed himself to relax slightly.   
His thoughts strayed to other things. Funny how these boys were willing to put themselves in danger for him. All for him. The 1899 strike had revealed to him the loyalty of his boys, and it had never burdened him. Till now.   
The black cowboy hat rested over his eyes, shielding his sight from the world. He was sure it was near ten when he heard the well-known gait of his friend's footsteps, and he eased the cowboy hat off his eyes and propped himself up. He noted with a grimace that his arm was numb from leaning on it too long and groaned with annoyed pain.  
Race heard the groan and rolled his eyes. Of course. How did he expect to escape from Jack? He steeled himself for another confrontation and scaled the stairs.  
  
Jack had not been entirely correct in the assumption that everyone was asleep. A few beds away, Seattle had been tossing and turning, and was now jerked awake from his light sleep by Jack's voice.  
"Whea have ya been?"  
"I went ta Midnight's," was the careless reply  
"To Midnight's?! Why?!"   
"Ta talk her out of da rumble, ya idiot! I had ta do all I could!"  
There was a bang, something Seattle perceived as a fist being slammed against the wall.  
"Dammit, Race, dis is Midnight we're talkin' bout! Nothing'll change her mind!"  
"I know! Don'tcha t'ink I know?! Uddawise, I woulda come up heah all smilin' and happy!" he snapped back.  
There was an uncomfortable silence.  
"Didya see Enchanted?" Jack asked quietly.  
Seattle briefly wondered about their interest in Enchanted, and had to resist the temptation to kick off the thin blanket and demand answers.  
"Nah. But I didn't wanna eidder. Knowin' her, she was probably as mad as hell."  
"Better dat way, I guess," Jack responded. "I'm goin' ta bed, arrite? No more sneakin' out tonight."  
"Yeah, yeah." There was the shuffling of feet, the creaking of bedsprings, and an exhausted stillness.   
Seattle turned on his back and stared at the wood ceiling, wishing that it would yield some answers.  
~*~ 


	6. Chapter 6

~*~  
  
The days turned into a vast conglomeration of anxiety and apprehension over the anticipated rumble, and suddenly, with an uninvited speed, the night before the appointed fight came.   
Enchanted fiddled with her hair, brushing it back from her forehead with impatience. After their fight, Enchanted and Midnight had an unspoken agreement: to stay out of each other's way. Even now, their firm friendship was strained with the weight of twelve other girls who depended upon them to get them through the upcoming rumble.  
All through the week, the girls had practiced their moves for the rumble, much like a young girl would practice moves for a dance. But when Rook, with predatory eyes, would pounce on Whisper, and she would wrestle her off, or when Autumn and Mimic would commence in fist fights, everyone was reminded that this wasn't as lighthearted as a dance would have been.  
The only one who wouldn't openly participate in these open acts of combat was Uhm. Silent, she would sit in a corner, her pale blue eyes flickering with nervousness and at the same time, excitement. Sometimes, she would reach for the little notebook she kept by her side, and jot something down in it, lost in territories of unexplored thought. But most times, she would just sit still, watching the closest thing she had to a family fight and tear each other apart.  
~*~  
  
Spot turned to Jack, his glacial blue eyes burning with amusement. "Yeah, dat's whad I'se heard too, Jacky-boy. Word around da streets is dat you'se got in trouble wid da Midnight Gang."  
"You ain't gonna help us, though?" Jack asked abstractedly, already knowing the answer.  
Spot glanced down at the river with considering eyes. "Sorry, but da whole a Manhattan against fourteen goils? Plus Brooklyn? A lil unfair, wouldn't ya say?"  
Jack shook his head, admonishing Spot silently. "But da Midnight Gang ain't jist a bunch a goils." He winced, remembering the words he had uttered towards them only a week ago, the words that had been one of the causes of their anger. "Dey're like...I don't know...men, too."  
"You know, if Enchanted heayd ya say dat, she'd beat ya till you'se begged fo' mercy," Spot turned away, shielding his thoughts carefully.   
Jack waited silently, knowing that Spot had something important to say.  
Spot let his thoughts drift. Enchanted, if anything, was like a sister to him. During her days of working as a newsie with Manhattan, she had often run away from the Lodging House when she was mad at all of them. When he had found her wandering aimlessly through Brooklyn area, a reckless look on her face, he had to stifle a laugh at the impudence she showed him.  
The boys of Manhattan would never understand her, it seemed. Her problems were not something to be discussed of with the boys, and no matter how hard she would try to make them understand, they would either turn away, too uncomfortable, or would mock her with unrelenting harshness.  
Spot shook himself from his thoughts as a blue-eyed freckled girl, with a chillingly close resemblance to Spot, popped up behind the two of them.   
"Spot! Look whad I'se found!" she waved a rusty gear around proudly, displaying happiness that only a girl of her seven years could have.  
"Dat's great, Gears. But put it down, or you'll get lockjaw!"  
Jack smiled at the exhibition of emotion that he showed. Spot's little sister, Gears, had been Spot's joy since Jack had known him. Gears displayed an innocence that was hard to believe could exist on the streets of New York. Her blue eyes would wonder at every little thing, her hands quick to figure out how something would work.   
"Go on an' play, Gears. I'se gotta talk ta Cowboy," his eyes followed her outside the door and made sure that she was removed form the empty room before he said what he was thinking, "Da Midnight Gang only seem like dat is cuz dey're gone. Dey're so far jaded dat innocence is like a fadin' dream."  
Jack frowned. What did this have to do with anything? He watched Spot conceal his emotions behind an unbreakable façade.  
"Sorry, but me boys have betta t'ings ta do den fight a buncha goils."  
Jack accepted this with a curt nod. He had expected the answer from Spot, who never wanted to get involved in anything that didn't directly entangle him. "I'll see ya latah den, Spot." He tipped his black hat in a brisk goodbye and turned to leave the room.  
"Good luck," was Spot's grim farewell.  
~*~  
  
Enchanted winced at the bright sun that came streaming to her barely open eyes. For one blissful moment, her mind remained blank. And then, with a wrench in her stomach that felt like someone had dug a knife into her gut and twisted the blade, she remembered.  
Today was the day.  
She rolled over and surveyed the room. Everyone was still asleep, exhaustion causing them to look slightly flawless. She noticed a swift movement by the window, however, and she sluggishly turned her head in that direction.  
  
Midnight, watching the rising sun, did not notice that one of hers had awakened. The sun hit her mahogany hair, and the halo of light that shone off her face seemed to erase the soot that was smudged on her cheeks. The hardened look that always seemed to be associated with Midnight had surprisingly left her, making her seem somewhat vulnerable.  
  
Enchanted sighed and closed her deep brown eyes, not wishing to be awake. "Mid," she croaked, making the girl jump.  
"What?" she said, with a tone that held just a bit of annoyance.  
"Whad are we gonna do?"   
Midnight looked back at Enchanted with a look of surprise. "Whad do ya mean, whad are we gonna do?!"  
Enchanted sighed again, and laid her head against her arms, battling with the frustration and irritation that arose in her. "Midnight, we gotta have a plan. We jist can't go out dere wid nothin' ta do besides throw insults at 'em," she muttered through gritted teeth. How could anyone so imposing be so unprepared?  
"Fine. Go ta da Manhattan boys and tell dem dat we'se expectin' 'em by nightfall, arrite? Tell Race ta lead da way up heah. He knows."  
"How does he know?" Enchanted asked with a puzzled curiosity.  
"He jist does! Quit askin' so many questions and do as I say!" Midnight's posture straightened suddenly, her hands clenched into tight fists by her side, and Enchanted knew she had touched a nerve. Her voice was much stronger now. Had it been any louder, she would have aroused everyone out of their sleep.   
"Somethin' ya can't answer," Enchanted muttered as she rose to her feet, brushing back her ebony hair, "or somethin' ya don' wanna?"   
Midnight caught the sentence with harried ears. Biting back a growl, she faced the sun and battled with a tide of anger. Her hand went to the pocket conveniently cut in the back of her corduroy pants. A flicker of a smile started as she touched the warm steel of her trusted switchblade.   
  
Enchanted left the rage-ridden room to use the decrepit washroom. She splashed freezing water on her usually tan face, and used her shirt to scrub vigorously at it. Cleaning her teeth was habitual, something she did every day. Afterwards, she ran a finger through her chaotic hair, and decided not to trouble herself with it. She carelessly thrust the annoying strands underneath a gray cap. She looked herself over in the shattered mirror, and laughed at herself. Who else, but the Manhattan newsies, was going to see her in this state?   
Still laughing, she exited the warehouse, slamming the door shut behind her.  
  
~*~  
  
Seattle, feeling a pang of homesickness, kicked off the threadbare blanket. In a few minutes, Kloppman would come up those stairs, poking his broom handle and shouting at them, ordering them to get up, get up, sell your lousy papes.  
He shook his head, stretched his lean legs and decided that he didn't want to stay in the Bunk Room for more than a minute. So, he crossed over to the window, dived out of it, and landed easily on the grating of the fire escape.  
  
"Dat was smooth," said a soft voice, startling him so that he jumped. He turned around quickly, his black hair bouncing against his temple as he did so. There, sitting nonchalantly on the stairs, as if she had good reason to was the girl he identified as Enchanted. Her eyes held a touch of ironic amusement, and it looked as if she had been reading a book that she lazily tried to conceal against the back of her leg.  
"What the hell do you want?" he lashed out at her, surprise getting the best of him.  
"Oh, did I surprise you? Sorry," she said, not sounding the least bit apologetic.   
"What do you want?" he echoed himself, not knowing what to say to her rudeness.  
"I'se jist wanna tell Jack dat da rumble will be ovah at ouah territory tonight. Race should know whea it is," she replied curtly, getting off her feet and baring the book she had been trying to hide. "Oh, and tell Books not ta leave her books out heah when she goes in at night. It's a good way ta get 'em stolen." She tossed the flimsy paperback book at Seattle, whose reflexes quickly snatched it before it could fall. A cursory glance revealed the title of the book: Romeo and Juliet.   
"Wait!" he called out, not knowing exactly what to say.  
"What?" she asked in a voice that revealed nothing.  
"I...I wanna know what's going on here. No one's telling me anything and it's making me mad."  
Enchanted smirked. Somehow, her thoughts didn't settle. This man---this boy, really, was affecting her in a way that she didn't like. One glance in his sincere eyes caused her stomach to rock suddenly. With his black hair and olive skin they looked almost misplaced, yet when the waxing light hit them just right, they glinted with a thousand facets, like a dark blue sapphire would. "I'se woulda t'ought dat Jack would have explained more. Seems like da type a guy would couldn't pass up the chance to brag a lil."  
Seattle didn't say anything to the rude statement, just continued to observe Enchanted's movements. She seemed to be more agitated now, her hands couldn't keep still, first clenching and then gathering behind her back.   
"Listen, all dat happened was dat dey was pissin' us off. And Midnight, wid her damn tongue, got us all inta somethin' dat..." she trailed off suddenly, as she realized that he was slowly coming closer to her. She backed away, cursing herself inwardly for seeming so weak. What was it about him?  
Seattle stopped. Ok, he wasn't trying that again. She had moved away from him so frenetically, as if she could not place any trust in someone like him. She intrigued him, in all reality. He had heard so much from everyone else in the Lodging House, and he wanted, needed, to get to the bottom of it all. She was the complete opposite from Adora in Seattle. Adora had hawklike eyes that could pick you apart, light blonde hair and pale skin. And Enchanted? She didn't have anything that made her seem animal-like, except for the wary way she stood. Hardly knowing what he was doing, he came closer again. His hand shot out and knocked the newsie cap off her head.  
Enchanted ducked suddenly, letting the gray cap drop to the ground. Her rumpled, thick hair fell beyond her shoulders, and she winced, wishing for the first time that day that she had had the good sense to comb it. Almost automatically she lashed out, grabbing his wrist and maneuvering so that it was he pushed against the half open window.   
She was so close, closer than she had ever been to him in the past few days he had 'known' her.   
The mounting attraction was almost too much, and their breaths mingled in a fusion of heat. "You'se ain't fightin' tanight, are ya?" she whispered, her mouth deliciously close to his, "cuz I'se would hate ta kick ya---"  
And for one of the rare times in his life he allowed himself to be totally spontaneous and do what his impulse told him.   
He pushed himself up, and their lips met with a perceptible 'oomph' on Enchanted's part, cutting off whatever she was about to say.   
Enchanted's brown eyes widened, and then closed, not even bothering to put up a fight for the moment. Instead, she allowed the wave of flaming sweetness rock through her.  
Seattle, shocked that she wasn't murdering him by now took full advantage of the situation by pulling her unresisting body closer.  
Enchanted snapped out of the daze instantly. She shoved him away. "Are ya crazy?! I'se don't even know your name!" she yelled.  
"It's Seattle," he replied bewilderedly, reeling from the unexpected change in her.  
"I'se don't know you," she said pointedly, her voice decreasing in volume but not losing one ounce of temper. "And I'se don't think I'se wanna. You'se jist tell Jacky-boy dat Race can lead him up ta ouah place when night falls." Enchanted didn't say anything more and turned to go when he seized her hand.  
"I'll see you after the fight?" he inquired, and it wasn't so much the fact that he had even asked but the way he had asked, as if everything in his life was depending on her answer.  
Because of that, she could only muster a half-hearted glare and a pathetic attempt at storming away.  
~*~  
  
The moon rose slowly, taking an eternity to occupy its rightful place in the dark sky. And it was only then that the 14 girls left the abandoned room.  
Enchanted and Midnight walked out of the room first, each one harboring their own secret. Midnight knew of the small switchblade in her back pocket, stashed there with the thought of anger and self-defense. Enchanted, on the other hand, had a slingshot, tucked away inside her shirt, just in case things got out of hand...which they probably would. The both of them knew that it was going against the unwritten law: no weapons. Rumbles were meant to be hand-to-hand, wits against wits. But...the honor meant less to both of them as much as preserving their own lives did.  
Bitter, Giggles, and Porcelyn grouped together by the side of the warehouse, grimly silent, something they never were. Snaps and Whisper were staring towards the area of Manhattan, staring at the horizon that was dotted with old factories and no longer used buildings. For once, Snaps' hair wasn't tightly braided, rather, it was put up in a neat bun. Her leather was off too, to prevent any damage to it. The rest of the girls were bunched around the entrance of the old warehouse, waiting.   
They knew they could stop waiting when a man with a cowboy hat tilted on his head appeared, with about twenty or so followers trailing behind.  
That's when Azure let out a small whoop that made them all jump and voiced the words that they were all dying to say, "Rumble's on! Whoo!"  
~*~ 


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: All the characters, except, of course, Enchanted and Seattle, do not belong to me. And I am not making money off of any of them...wouldn't it be cool, though?? LOL  
  
A/N: Thankz everyone for reviewing my work! You guyz make me feel loved! Ok, anyways, this chapter proved a lil skrewy for me, so don't be surprised if I revise it a little. I also plan to finish this fic sometime soon, since it's finally summer! **does a lil jig** Well, almost summer. Anywayz, on with the show!  
  
  
  
  
  
~*~  
Gears ran toward the crates, waiting impatiently for Spot to find her. She smoothed her blonde hair over her freckled shoulders, letting a giggle escape out of her mouth. She was so good at hiding. Spot would never think to look here!  
This afternoon, she had hitched a ride on one of the wagons that was crossing the bridge, and had let herself off at the end. The driver didn't mind on the account that he didn't see her at all. And here she was, behind some unused buildings and abandoned factories.  
5 minutes passed before Gears couldn't resist looking up very quickly before ducking down again. For all she knew, Spot could have been following her here. She looked up again, with bold curiosity. Was that Cowboy? It was! And next to him was Race, chewing on his unlit cigar.   
Gears' blue eyes darted across the field. She nearly ducked down again as she saw who was across from Cowboy and Race. It was Enchanted.   
Enchanted used to come to the Lodging House in Brooklyn all the time! She used to pay special attention to Gears, flipping her over her shoulder and spinning around while Gears would emit squealing noises. Then, she would usually go over to Spot and talk to him. She never came by anymore, though, and while that struck Gears as odd, she never questioned her actions.  
Gears just giggled, and dug down into the grass, waiting for Spot to come.  
~*~  
  
With the whoop Azure gave, Midnight started forward towards Jack, mind set on one thing. Anticipating this, he backed up a few steps before she could tackle him. The tactic worked, and she stopped for a moment, confused at his sudden movement.   
"Can't we jist stop?" Jack asked, his hands outstretched in a gesture of peace. "I mean, we don't need a rumble, and you don't need a rumble, so..."  
Midnight didn't allow him to finish as she started circling him. "Tell me sumptin', Jacky-boy. Tell me if you can fairly give me and my goils half of da sellin' spots in Manhattan. Cuz if ya can, I'll call it off right heah and right now."  
Jack paused, a remorseful look on his face. His newsies looked to him to survive, and half of the selling spots meant that half of his boys would starve out in the streets.   
"Yeah," Midnight muttered, her voice contrite. "Ya see, Jacky? It ain't a territory thing. Da rumble is ta make shoah we survive. It ain't easy, huh?" As soon as she finished, she charged him, knowing that he wouldn't back up again.  
He met her head on.  
  
Meanwhile, Enchanted, wasting no words, lunged at Race, who danced back rapidly.  
"C'mon, Chanty, you'se can do betta den dat," he taunted, "Or did ya not practice while you were wid dese goils?"  
She glared at him, and without any warning, twisted into a forward roll that took her to his feet.   
Race had no idea what she was doing until he felt himself falling backward. She had lashed out with her legs and kicked his calves with one vicious hit.  
"You should be askin' yaself dat question," she panted as she stood up lithely, giving him a contemptuous glance as she passed by.   
  
Azure blocked the punch that Blink sloppily threw. "Oh please," she mumbled, prancing aside as he tried to charge her. "C'mon! Jist cuz you'se blind in one eye don't mean ya can't fight, does it?!" she roared.  
Blink smiled apologetically. "Actually, I'se was jist goin' easy on ya," he stated truthfully.   
Before Azure knew it, she was on the ground, with flashes of pain going off in her head. "Dat's mo' like it!" she growled triumphantly.   
"Sorry," Blink muttered, extending a hand to help her up.   
"A gentleman, too, huh?" she quipped, taking his hand. Then, it was him on the ground, breathing rapidly and trying to ignore his aching neck. He had landed wrong on his back and it felt like he had twisted something.   
There was a brief scuffle on the hard ground before Blink got the upper hand again. He pinned her wrists so that she couldn't move them and dug her knees into her stomach. Blink was suddenly enraged. He had offered her a hand up, and she had used it to injure him further? What kind of a girl was this?!  
Blink never got to finish his thought. Azure tensed her body and using reserves of strength she never believed she had, she snapped her wrists out of his clamped hands. Without hesitation, she drove her fist into his face.  
  
Cats had finally cornered Skittery. With a malicious smile on her face, she waited for him to say something.  
"Ain'tcha gonna kill me now?" he gibed.   
"Whaddya t'ink?"   
Skittery was no gentleman. Instead of expecting her to charge him, he instead threw the first punch.   
Cats reeled backwards and touched a hand to the trail of blood dripping from her lower lip. She flashed him a black look full of irritation and punched him in the stomach with as much force as she could muster. He slumped forward, cursing at the tall red-head. Her only answer was a swift kick aimed in between his legs.  
"You bastard," she spat out as he sank to the ground, face contorted with pain.  
  
Snaps looked up from where she was ganging up on Mush with Lightning and saw something that made her blood run cold. Quickly, she deserted Lightning's side and ran to where Whisper was brutally attacking her brother.  
"HEY!" she shoved her best friend off of Snipeshooter, and was relieved when she noticed he had no major injuries. Nevertheless, she was enraged as she noted his two shiners and bloody nose. "Get up," she ordered.  
Snipeshooter's eyes widened when he realized who it was. "S---snaps?" he stuttered. "Y---you left me alone at da Lodging House."  
'Funny', Snaps thought grimly. 'The one thing his mind's on right now isn't the fact that he's getting the shit beaten out of him, but that I left him behind.' She hastily pulled him up. "Can ya stand?" she asked harshly, not bothering to hear his answer. "Good. Get outta heah."  
"What?" he asked, a confused look flitting across his face.  
"Ya heayd me! Get outta heah! Go!"  
Snipeshooter didn't ask a second time. He started to limp away, shooting just one look back at his sister. She stood motionless, watching him go. He remembered her back at the Lodging House, the day before she left.  
  
"I hate it heah," she had confided in him, "If I leave, ya won't mind, will ya? I mean, da boys can take care a you'se, right?"  
"Yeah, Snaps," he had chuckled nervously. Only six, the world revolved around his older sister, his only link to the family he had left behind. "But ya ain't really gonna leave, are ya?"   
  
'So maybe I wasn't being a good sister to him then. I can be one now.' Snaps turned back to Whisper who was staring at her with a skeptical look.   
"Whad da hell was dat?!" she cried.  
In reply, Snaps slapped her, crisp and hard. "Da guy was half your size! Didn't anyone evah teach ya ta play fair?!"  
"Fuckin' bitch!" Whisper growled, and hit back. They seemed to forget they had a different fight, and released their anger out on each other.  
  
Mimic and Autumn continued wrestling with Bumlets, oblivious to everything else that was happening around them. To their credit, they at least took turns attacking him, instead of attacking him at the same time.  
Bitter was battling painfully against Dutchy, who now had her pushed against the brick warehouse. Reaching back, she grabbed hold of his thick hair and twisted it unrelentingly until his hands went up to try to loosen her fingers. When he did that, she used the opportunity to pull him towards the brick and shove his head against it. There was a sickening crunch as she did so.  
"BITCH!" she faintly heard before she was flying backward with an aching pain in her arm. She was aware that her arm wasn't working properly before she passed out.  
  
Giggles and Porcelyn kept themselves busy by cheering on the girls, and when Race and Enchanted were grappling each other and Enchanted got rammed to the ground, it was Giggles and Porcelyn who kept away Race while Enchanted struggled to get up.  
  
Uhm chose to sit back and write, knowing that the girls didn't need her for this one. She scribbled down exactly what happened and didn't let one part of the fight get past her.   
  
Lightning knew she was in trouble the instant Snaps left her side. Two against one was fair against someone like Mush. True, he had the most muscles out of everyone else in the Manhattan Lodging House, but at the same time, she had to contend with his cold fighting.   
Whenever Mush was fighting someone, he was no longer naïve and harmless. He was replaced with someone else, someone who thought mechanically and had only one thought in his mind: to win.  
Mush grabbed Lightning's pale blonde hair and dragged her closer.  
"Ouch!" she howled in pain, knowing better than to try to tug away. A few of her strands of hair would end up in his hands if she did so.  
"Sorry," he apologized beforehand as he brought her face down to his approaching knee.  
The world exploded around Lightning, a world full of red. She could dimly perceive that her nose was spouting blood like a fountain before she pulled away. "Christ!" she croaked, feeling billows of pain sway through her head. Already groggy, she didn't properly react when he started running towards her. Instead of sidestepping his approach, she backed up rather sluggishly, coming to a stop when her back hit what felt like wooden crates.  
  
Gears looked up confusedly. What was making the boxes lean back like that? she asked herself. Standing up, she stretched to the very top of her toes to look over the boxes. She never got to see.  
  
Mush plowed into Lightning, and her last thought before she slipped into blessed unconciousness was, 'What in the world is that sound?'  
  
The sound was Gears screaming in pain.  
~*~  
For a moment, it looked as if everyone had been frozen. Uhm stopped writing mid-sentence, threw down her pen and ran over to where Mush had finally stopped attacking Lightning.  
"Whad da---?" Mush asked dumbfoundedly, as if he couldn't remember what he was doing here.  
Heart pounding unbelievably fast, Uhm tenderly pushed Lightning off the crumbled boxes.   
Underneath all the fragments and pieces, Gears felt a warm stickiness on her arms and legs. She was bleeding. Only when she comprehended this did she stop screaming and started crying, little weeping noises that soon died as she fell into darkness.  
  
Uhm uncovered the tiny little body as quickly as she could. From behind her, a bellowing roar echoed into the now silent night, but she didn't turn back, didn't pay any attention to the sudden uproar.  
She looked familiar. Who was she?  
"Sweetie?" Uhm asked softly, hoping to revive her, "C'mon, sweetie. Wake up." There was a brief instant when the thought passed her mind that this little girl could be dead. But no, she was breathing and the blood that came through her scraped skin quickly disproved that theory.  
Uhm watched with a saddened heart as Gears' eyes flickered open for a fraction of a second before she closed them again. She was sickened, actually sickened by her so-called 'family'. Was this all they lived for? All this fighting and coarseness?  
As she contemplated this, she suddenly remembered where she had seen those pale blue eyes before.  
Oh my God.  
Uhm hastily searched the little girl's black pant pockets. If her suspicion was true, then---  
She pulled out a wooden slingshot, one that closely resembled the slingshot Spot always kept with him.  
Uhm sat back on her heels. Of course this little girl had a slingshot that looked almost exactly like Spot's. All Brooklyn newsies were required to carry one, after all.  
This was Spot's little sister.  
  
~*~  
  
Midnight had taken another opportunity. This whole fight between her and Jack had been unbelievably fatiguing. She had to struggle wearisomely to keep Jack from gaining on her.   
Midnight sighed when an ample distraction finally occurred. Instead of waiting for Jack to snap out of his confused daze when the loud banshee screaming happened, she chose this time to take out the switchblade she had stashed into her back pocket and flip it open. She faltered for a moment, then closed her eyes and dug the blade into Jack's abdomen.   
  
~*~ 


	8. Chapter 8

Enchanted released Race from the headlock she had him in and unceremoniously dropped him at her feet. "Mid?" she whispered, not wanting to accept what her best friend had just done. "Whad---" she came closer, breathing in shallow gasps.  
Sure, she disliked Jack. She even went as far as wishing he would fall off the Brooklyn Bridge and drowning in the Ocean. But he didn't deserve this.   
Race stood up unsteadily and studied Midnight's face. He didn't know what scared him more, the switchblade still halfway buried in Jack's bleeding stomach, or the fact that Midnight was crying. It was barely there, but he was sure he could see the diminutive tears that trailed through the soot and ashes on her cheeks.  
Midnight could show remorse? Race felt the hopelessness starting up in his chest again and turned his thoughts towards Jack.   
Enchanted ran forward, no longer hampered by the doubts she had flying about in her mind. No one, certainly not Jack, deserved to suffer like this. "All a you'se!" she gestured wildly at the boys gathered around their fallen leader, "Do ya t'ink dat you'se can carry Cowboy back ta da Lodging House?"  
Azure wrenched away from Blink's restraining arms and dashed to Jack's side. "Jesus!" she gasped as soon as she saw the growing stain on his white shirt. "Chant, we can't move 'im till we take out da blade!" she stated the obvious.  
"But it'll start bleedin' like hell!" Enchanted protested, "We'se can't!"  
"But da blade can't stay in 'im like dat! He could die!"   
Enchanted blinked back her sudden deluge of tears. "Arrite. Heah's whad we'se gonna do. Mush, gimme ya shoit."  
"Whad?" he questioned, not sure he was hearing her correctly.  
"Gimme da damn shoit!" she demanded, "Da blade didn't go too deep and unless I'se ain't mistaken, it didn't hit anyt'ing too important in dere. Da one t'ing I'se worried about is da bleeding. Mush, ya ain't scared a blood, are ya?"  
"Not too much," he answered, lying a little bit. Suddenly, he was back to being innocent, naïve Mush, which didn't go well with him. He crumpled up the shirt and tried to hand it to her.   
"No," she refused it, "When I'se pull out da blade, I'se need you and Azure to push down hard on da cut. As hard as ya can, arrite? Don't worry about hurting anyt'ing else. Keep da pressure firm and constant. Are we ready?"  
Azure and Mush nodded grimly, aware that everyone's eyes rested on them.   
Enchanted squared her shoulders, took a deep breath, and strengthened her resolve. Then, she seized the small handle of the switchblade and pulled with all her might.  
There was a small groan from Jack, and Azure and Mush were suddenly on top of him, pushing down a blue shirt that quickly became black with oozing blood.  
"Shit," Enchanted muttered, brushing her streaked hair out of her face with her bloodstained fingers. The shirt was becoming soaked rapidly. Without another thought of how she might seem unchaste, she pulled her own gray shirt over her head. Azure followed a moment later, and with the two shirts over Mush's shirt, the blood stopped seeping through the surface of the shirt.   
  
"What happened here?" came a small voice from outside of the circle everyone had made around Jack.  
Enchanted looked up confusedly to barely recognize Seattle's icy blue eyes, now wide with fear and perplexity. At this point in time, she had no other desire than to fall in his arms and just cry. She just shook her head, however, and motioned him to come next to her.  
He followed without any restrains and knelt down next to her. "Shit," he grumbled as soon as he saw the makeshift bandages.  
"Dat seems ta be da woid a da day," Enchanted agreed coldly and exchanged a small smile with him.  
Azure looked up from Cowboy with curiosity in her eyes. Whoa. Enchanted just smiled at a boy, something she had never seen her do. When all this was over, she would have a little talk with her. When all this was over, she remembered, and without thinking reached and took hold of Jack's right hand. "It's gonna be arrite," she whispered, knowing he could hear her.  
His chocolate brown eyes fluttered open and met hers. "I'se would like ta believe dat," he joked through gritted teeth, "But da pain seems ta contradict it."  
Azure, knowing the timing was completely wrong, chuckled. It was the best thing she had done all day.  
  
"Help me tie this," Enchanted ordered, reaching around Jack and pulling the three shirts around his back. Seattle complied and reached forward to help her double knot the shirts. Their fingers briefly touched and Seattle, hating himself for it, couldn't quell the sudden uprising of butterflies in his stomach.  
"Do ya t'ink you'se can git sumptin' ta carry Jack back ta da Lodging House?"  
"A carriage?" he inquired, tilting his head to the side.  
"How in all hell are you'se gonna git a carriage?!" Enchanted cried.  
"By telling the truth. Haven't you ever heard of it?" He stood up. "I need someone who can act pretty good."  
Mimic volunteered by timidly raising her hand.  
"Ok," Seattle nodded, "Listen, when we find someone driving by in a carriage, I want you to start crying as hard as you can. I'll do all the talking, ok?"  
Mimic nodded and followed behind him meekly.  
'Telling the truth,' Enchanted turned this over in her head and mused for a little bit, waiting for Seattle and Mimic to reappear with their carriage. 'If this works, I swear I'll start living an honest life.'  
She glanced over at Azure, who had her fingers intertwined with Jack's, whose eyes were closed. Azure kept whispering things to him, things that made him smile and laugh, even though his eyes remained clenched shut. Enchanted felt her stomach coil with jealousy.  
Why was it everyone could fall in love so easily?  
She didn't want to admit it, but Snaps' comment on how she had a boyfriend and Enchanted didn't a week earlier had affected her more than she let on.  
Her train of thoughts was interrupted by the sudden clip-clopping of horses. She looked up incredulously, and there was Seattle, on a wooden carriage, with a middle-aged driver. Mimic was still sobbing as hard as she could, and Enchanted knew that she didn't have to act to bring those tears up to the surface. Seattle had his arm around her, no doubt to comfort her, but Enchanted suddenly felt a stronger throb of jealousy. She shook her head to clear it.  
"Get in the carriage!" the man shouted gruffly. Damn kids. Didn't know what they were doing getting into rumbles and notwhat. Jeez, if he had a penny---his eyes rested on Jack, who had a crudely made bandage tied around his middle. "We're taking him to a hospital, too," he commented.  
"We'se don't have any money ta afford it," Race spoke up.  
"I'm payin', then. Jeez," he shook his head in disgust, "Stupid kids."  
Race smiled, stepped forward and said, "You'se have no idea how much dis means ta us." He clambered over the side, followed by Mush, Bumlets, Blink and Dutchy.   
Seattle winced as he took note of their injuries. A limping Skittery had to be helped over the side.  
The man hopped down from the seat, and benevolently gathered Jack up in his arms. Jack inhaled at the sudden blaze of pain and his hand tightened on Azure's.   
Mimic stepped down from next to Seattle, now done with crying. She took her spot next to Autumn, who consolingly took her into an embrace.   
Azure did not let go of Jack's hand and trailed along behind him as he was placed into the carriage. The boys made room for him and didn't meet Azure's eyes.  
"Hey."  
Midnight's sudden outburst made them all jump.  
"Whea da hell do you'se t'ink you'se goin'?"  
"Fuck you!" Azure shouted back, her anger thrashing out at her former leader. "Fuck you and your so-called honor! A rumble meant no weapons, and whaddya do?! You pack a damn switchblade and hurt someone who didn't have nothin' ta protect himself!" she did something that surprised them all and burst into tears. This only proved to emphasize what she said next. "I'se t'ink dat if dis is whad da Midnight Gang stands fo', bloodshed and fighting, instead of all da fun stuff we used ta do, den I'm out. I quit dis gang."  
The carriage driver started whipping his horse and they drove away, Azure among them. 


	9. Chapter 9

A/N: Sorry it took so long!!! I had tournaments and plays and finals going on so I couldn't really finish it!!!  
  
Disclaimer: Newsies doesn't belong to me blahblahblah. I am not making any profit off of them.  
  
~*~  
  
Uhm looked up as the wagon pulled away. She had the yearning desire to hop in with the raggedy band of boys and Azure, and she knew that that would have been a perfect ending to the climatic evening. But her hard loyalty bound her to this group of girls, and so she chose to stay. She made herself a vow, however. After everyone had healed from their injuries, she would follow Azure's example and say her good-byes to the Midnight Gang.   
And although she hated herself for it, she felt relief at the idea.   
The thin, pale girl gathered up the healthy, tan Gears in her arms, and being careful not to agitate her too much, turned her back on the chaotic scene.   
~*~  
  
Midnight rose from her knees as she saw Azure vanish with the rest of the Manhattan boys. There was no stopping her; it was utterly pointless. Already, her heart was hardened again, choosing to return her former state. She hated herself for showing, even momentarily, a flash of weakness. Her tears had evaporated, leaving behind only trails on her dirt-stained cheek to show they had been there.  
Enchanted was quick to notice the two trails underneath Midnight's chestnut eyes. Wisely, though, she decided not to say anything as she scuffled past the tall girl towards the unconscious Bitter.   
"Enchanted," Midnight said suddenly, breaking the cold silence.  
"What?" Enchanted asked wearily.   
It was this that changed Midnight's mind, not the way Enchanted's fists clenched suddenly or the way her shoulders sagged, but rather that the fire in Enchanted's voice was all gone.  
"Put a shoit on," Midnight snapped brusquely, all pretenses of affection gone.   
"Whadevah ya say, O Mighty Leadah," Enchanted said in the same fatigued tone.  
"And don't call me dat," Midnight ordered underneath her breath, sure that Enchanted hadn't heard.   
It stunned Midnight when Enchanted muttered back, "Fine wid me."  
~*~  
  
Jack sluggishly laid an arm across his stomach and winced at the sudden lightning bolt of pain. "What da---" he trailed off as he pulled the threadbare blanket away from his body. He was dressed in brown pants and nothing else. A once-white bandage was tied around his middle, concealing the gash that he had received from Midnight, a symbol of her loathing and fury.  
Panting a little bit from exhaustion, he battled against the ache as he tried to prop himself up on his pillow.   
"Uh-uh," he vaguely heard. Jack chose to ignore the voice as he exerted the rest of his built-up energy trying to sit up.  
"I said," came the voice, this time a bit more exasperated, "sit back." When he chose to pretend he was deaf once again, there was a loud sigh.  
"Fine." Azure stood up from the wooden chair she had been seated on for the last three hours. She flinched as the blood rushed to her head. "Listen," she said in a threatening voice, "I'se don't care how sore you are, if da doctah says ya ain't allowed ta move any muscle in your stomach, den you'se ain't moving any muscle in your stomach, got it?" She shoved Jack back down on the bed so that his head rested against the pillow once more.  
Jack, meanwhile, was very perplexed. He knew this girl, but she didn't belong here in the Manhattan Lodging House. "Azure?"  
"Oh, good, so da fight didn't affect your memory at all." Although this was said in a bantering tone, there was an undercurrent of worry and quiet fear in her voice.  
"Guess not," Jack said in the same confused tone and met her eyes bewilderedly. She blinked and looked away instantly, as if she didn't want him to see whatever was hidden in her eyes.  
Quick to change the subject, she cleared her throat in the uneasy silence that followed. "Uh, I'se got some soup if you're hungry. Mistah Kloppman's been keepin' it warm, so..."  
"Yeah," Jack interrupted, "I'm starved."  
Azure ran down the stairs, her footsteps light against the wood. When she came back, it was slower on the account of the small, white bowl resting lightly on her fingertips. Inside the bowl was beef soup, laden with chopped carrots and potatoes and little morsels of beef.   
She handed it to Jack, who while she was gone, had finally succeeded in sitting up. The beef soup smelled enticing to him and he proceeded to gulp down most of it under Azure's watchful eyes.  
"Ya know," she said quietly, holding back her laughter, "I do have a spoon."   
"Shut up," Jack grumbled good-naturedly. There was nothing else said as he continued to eat. When he was done, Azure took the bowl from him and ran it downstairs. Jack was amazed and a little confused at how unhostile she was being. He was also amazed at how tired he was after doing such a simple thing like eating.   
When he was a bit stronger, he would ask Azure why she was doing this. He sleepily swept his thick hair out of his eyes and allowed himself to slip away. A few minutes later, when Azure stamped up the stairs and saw Cowboy on the bed, his face devoid of any anxiety as he slept peacefully, she let herself relax slightly.   
Her blue eyes she had been named after wandered over his poignantly handsome face. In his light sleep, a tender smile twisted his mouth, and Azure could feel her stomach tighten. She could feel the familiar yet strange fluttering all throughout her body and she inhaled sharply to quell them. After a moment, she realized she couldn't possibly stop the butterflies gliding through her stomach and resolutely surrendered. Drawn like a moth to a flame, she stepped closer to Jack and patted a lock of his brown hair back into place.  
Jack's eyes flew open at the unbidden touch, but only for a millisecond. In his sleepy mind, the only thing he caught sight of was Azure looking down on him with a tender look that was almost alien on her face. Strands of hair spilled over her shoulders and glowed with the afternoon sun. She was smiling, a bit sadly, but the smile was intriguing all the same.   
As he closed his eyes again, one thought crossed his mind. When he woke, he wouldn't be able to remember it, of course, like most of the dreams he had had when he was younger.   
He thought groggily that Azure was beautiful.  
~*~  
  
Lightning stood before the Brooklyn Lodging House, licking her lips nervously. "Shit," she whispered for the third time that hour. Right now, though she was unerringly loyal to the Midnight Gang, she hated them with all her heart and soul.   
  
Midnight, after seeing Gears lying in Uhm's arms, decided that the next days, someone was to convey her back to wherever she belonged. Of course, since Lightning was indirectly accountable for hurting her, the responsibility fell to her.   
When Enchanted recognized and identified her as Spot's sister, Lightning knew she was in a whole load of trouble. Spot was known all throughout Manhattan (and probably everywhere else) as being the leader of one of the fiercest groups of newsies in New York. And although she had never laid eyes on this fabled leader, she already had a deep and immense respect for him.  
  
Now, standing on Spot's doorstep, Lightning felt slightly light-headed. Once again, she cursed. She had been knocked out only a few hours earlier, now she had to face Spot? How fair was that? Why couldn't they have sent Uhm, who had done nothing during the rumble?  
Squaring her shoulders, she knocked loudly on the Lodging House door. There was a silence, and Lightning fidgeted a bit while waiting. Finally, the door flew open, a bit suddenly, and it startled Lightning out of her deep reverie.  
"What?!"   
Lightning fumbled a bit with her words as she stared at the black-haired boy. "Are you'se Spot?"  
The boy chuckled ruefully. "I wish. Nah, our mighty, esteemed leadah is upstairs, directing search parties for his beloved sister," the tones of sarcasm did not go unheard. "Why, ya wanna see him?"  
"Yeah, I do," she replied, more confident this time.  
"You and every udder overage goil in dis part of New York," he muttered as he turned away from her and bellowed into the dark room, "SPOT! DERE'S SOMEONE HEAH TA SEE YA!"   
Lightning recoiled as throbbing in her temples started up. Great. She was going to have a damn headache on top of it all.  
After a few minutes, the black-haired boy stuck his head out back out to face Lightning. "He says unless it's really important, he ain't botherin' ta listen--"  
"Tell him I have news bout his sistah," she informed him through gritted teeth.  
The boy's eyes widened and he disappeared again.  
"Spot! She says she knows whea Gears is!"  
Spot, his attention caught, turned to Cynic and grabbed him by the collar. "Cynic, I'se swear, if ya don't stop lyin' ta me..." he left the rest of the sentence unsaid.  
"I'se ain't lyin'!" Cynic squeaked, "She said she had news bout her, I'se swear on me mudda's grave!"  
Finally, Spot released Cynic and pushed him away. "Fine. Let her in." Spot sighed and closed his eyes. He desperately needed to sleep. For the past night and day, he and his group of newsies had combed Brooklyn, Queens, and even Harlem for Gears. He had lost her in a game of hide-and-seek, only a few blocks away from the Lodging House. Tense with brotherly worry, he had refused to eat and sleep, and had lashed out when his boys tried to tell him to calm down.   
Well, he didn't feel much like calming down, not until he had found his sister and not until she was under his care again. He waited impatiently as Cynic brought the girl into the Lodging House.  
  
Lightning licked her lips in anticipation. She would finally get to see Spot, although Enchanted had told her not to expect too much. She stumbled along in the darkened room behind Cynic, letting her eyes get used to the darkness.   
"Who are you?" was the abrupt question.  
"Lightning Eagan," she answered in a strong voice, "Are you'se Spot?"  
A nod confirmed the question. Lightning scrutinized him. Besides his flinty, blue eyes, the only thing that was remarkable about him was that he was only a few inches taller than her yet still short for people his age. This was the famed leader of Brooklyn? Lightning felt a little let down.  
"Ya know whea my sistah is?"   
Lightning heard the tone of uneasiness in his voice. "Yeah."  
"Is she hurt?"  
"No. Yes," she wanted to lie, but knew better than that to. Spot would find out soon enough anyways.  
A thousand questions flooded to his lips, but he closed them firmly. There would be time for questions later. "Lead me to her, den," he ordered after the silence passed.  
Lightning nodded, still not believing that this was Spot, the leader of Brooklyn, and led him out of the darkness and into the bright afternoon sun.  
~*~ 


	10. Chapter 10

Disclaimer: Newsies doesn't belong to me, and I am not making any profit off of them.  
  
  
  
Spot moved behind Lightning, drowned in his thoughts. Lightning, on the other hand, was painfully aware of his presence. She still felt a little disappointed on how the disreputable Brooklyn leader didn't seem much like the Brooklyn leader she had heard about at all. Where was the glinted glare? The quiet reassurance of strength?   
Still moving along, Spot hardly noticed as they crossed the Brooklyn Bridge and moved on to the outskirts of Manhattan, territory he never visited unless it was required of him to. Instead, his attention had suddenly adhered itself to the girl with the golden hair leading him to his sister. What threw him off the most was that she was wearing a white undershirt, without anything else to cover up her neck or arms. Most girls would rather shut themselves up in their houses than be denounced as a common nightwalker. Finally, he cleared away his thoughts and asked the girl in front of him how old she was.  
"I'm 16," she replied in a cold tone. "And it's ok, I ain't one a dose goils who needs ta talk all da time. You don't need ta keep up da conversation."  
Spot, slightly taken aback, nodded mutely and they made the rest of the trek in an indifferent silence. At long last, Lightning stopped in front of the ugly and old factory. From the corner of her eye, she gauged Spot's reaction.  
Of course, the only reaction he showed was through blinking. Outwardly, he had no signs that he cared, but inwardly, he blanched. 'This,' he thought with just a touch of pity, 'is what these girls have been living in? What Enchanted's been living in?' He jumped when Lightning touched his arm. "What?" he lashed out.  
"I was just sayin', ya hafta come inside ta see her," Lightning stated calmly, not a bit perturbed by his brusque answer.  
Spot nodded absently and reservedly followed Lightning to the door. It screeched as she opened it, and the sound of the metal ran shivers up his spine.   
Lightning greeted the rest of the Midnight Gang, all congregated in the middle of the room with a tense nod. Whatever they had been discussing in hushed whispers became interrupted as Spot walked in.  
Spot winced again as his famous blue eyes took note of the girls' injuries. One of the girls had their left arm tucked in a sling. Her piercing green eyes must have once been full of life, but now, they were dull, like an emerald that needed to be dusted. One exceptionally tall girl had a swollen lower lip, but besides that and a few bruised girls, the girl with her arm in the sling seemed the most hurt.   
His eyes stopped on the one girl he searched out. As if sensing his glance, Enchanted looked down at the dusty floorboards and met his blue eyes with her own. "How's it hangin', Spot?"  
"Just fine, Chanty. Just fine. Lightning heah says dat dis is whea me sistah is. How come I'se don't see her?"  
"She's upstairs. Recuperatin'."  
"How hoit is she?" Suddenly, it was a discussion between two old friends, and the conversation thawed out considerably.  
"It ain't pretty. Granted, it was jist an accident...so don't be too pissed off. It ain't anyone's fault."  
Spot rolled his eyes. "Fine, fine. Jist lemme see her."  
Enchanted stood up sinuously, and Spot understood that even she was hurt and trying to hide it. As she passed by him, he awkwardly gave her a one-armed hug, which earned him a firm shove. Spot, for the first time in hours, smirked crookedly.  
Lightning, still feeling responsible for Gears' injury tagged along slowly behind the two reconciled friends as they ascended the stairs. "She's still sleepin'," she heard Enchanted say to Spot.  
She also heard Spot's sharp inhalation of air. "Whad da hell happened?"  
Lightning, reaching the top of the stairs wasn't prepared for what she saw when she entered the quiet room. Spot wasn't little, quiet Spot anymore. Instead, his glare seemed to fill the room and he paced along Gears' body, which was resting on one of their threadbare cots. "Jesus, Enchanted! Whad da hell did your goils do ta her?!" As he continued pacing around Gears, Lightning took note of something shiny bouncing on a string around his neck. She told herself that she would have to ask Enchanted about that later before stepping back into the hall. If Spot and Enchanted were going to argue, she'd rather stay out of it.  
However, when Enchanted spoke next, it was with a quiet tone. "None of my goils did anything. You know dat. I'm sorry dat it had ta happen ta Gears, but it ain't any of da goil's fault."  
"I mean, damn! Fine, kick Jack's ass if it evah comes ta anythin'. But do it when little kids, little innocent kids aren't around! Or are ya too wrapped up in yaselves ta know any bettah?!"  
If Enchanted was going to start arguing, it would be now. Lightning waited expectantly. But Enchanted replied once again in a contrite, apologetic tone. "I'm sorry, Spot. If it's any consolation, I..."  
"Well, it's not!"   
Lightning recoiled. The sudden fire that erupted from Spot's voice sounded eerily like Enchanted's voice when she got enraged.   
"I'm sorry," Enchanted repeated once again.   
"How did dis happen?" Spot questioned her.  
"Mush drove Lightning into a pile of crates. Gears was hidin' behind 'em," Enchanted answered in a weary tone, as if she was tired of repeating it over and over again.  
"So part a it was Lightning's fault?"  
"None of it was Lightning's fault!" For the first time in the conversation, Enchanted's voice rose.  
"Shut up and go jump of da Bridge." There was a tiny silence and Lightning gathered that Spot was scooping up Gears in his arms. He murmured something to Enchanted, and Lightning leaned towards the doorway, straining to hear it.   
She caught the last part of his statement and reeled backwards, eyes widening and blood boiling.  
Spot stormed through the doorway, and nearly collided with Lightning. "Dere ya are!" he growled, clamping on to her arm. "You're helpin' me carry Gears back ta Brooklyn."  
"Like hell!" Lightning retorted, doing a very passable imitation of Spot's frigid glare.  
"Listen, goil, you hoit my baby sistah. Now you are goin' ta help me carry her back ta Brooklyn, cuz it's a long walk by yaself."  
Lightning caught Enchanted's eyes with a helpless look. With a tiny nod and a steely look on her face, Enchanted commanded her silently to go on to Brooklyn with Spot.  
Enchanted watched the three of them leave, silently fuming.  
What Spot had murmured to her was, "Enchanted, I care for you. You can't be responsible for 12 goils when you got yaself to take care of. Dese goils are killin' ya. I'm shoah Jack'll take ya back, even after all a dis. Damn, I'd take ya in if dat's whad ya need. Jist git away from dem all, Chanty."  
  
Enchanted plopped down on the empty cot and crossed her arms, seething over his impudence. As she leaned back on small bed, so thin that she could feel the wooden boards beneath her back, she cursed Spot for seeing the truth when she herself had been blind to it.  
~*~  
  
Midnight didn't even question Lightning as to where she was going when Spot exploded down the stairs, a still asleep Gears in his arms, and Lightning in tow, with a powerless look on her face. Wearily, she got to her feet and ascended the stairs alone, leaving the other girls still in the circle and still whispering about the rumors they heard about Jack and Azure.  
Midnight hoped to God that they weren't true. Love was not worth anything. Her mother had been in love with her father, and all he did when she was around was scream at her and throw beer bottles. The only time that he ever was happy was when they had enough money to afford his damned cigars. Then, he would gather up his wife and his only child in his arms and weep out his lament, begging them to forgive him and that he would become a better man, get a better job.  
And Midnight would lie in his arms, fervently breathing in the scent of his father's cigars and wishing desperately that she could believe in his dreams.  
At the age of 12, she had run away, leaving her mother to her father's mercy. They were probably both dead now.  
Midnight shook her head to clear away the memory and knew that it was going to rise more frequently than she needed it to in the next few days. Everything that she had ever lived for was steadily disintegrating, and now, more than ever she needed to be invariably strong.  
"Enchanted?" she called out, her voice bouncing off the walls.  
"What?"   
Already, the fire was seeping out of her voice and replaced by the listlessness that was starting to become more common in Enchanted.  
"Whea are you?" Midnight asked.  
"In heah."  
Midnight strode in the room. "Whea did Lightning go?" she asked curiously, not a bit of menace in her voice. The indifference that was on Midnight's part had evaporated as if it had never been there before.  
"Gone with Spot," responded Enchanted as she stared up at the ceiling, not bothering to look at Midnight.  
"Why?"  
"He's tryin' ta soothe his conscience fo' being an irresponsible brother by punishin' someone else," Enchanted stated matter-of-factly. Insight burned inside of her like a candle, and she knew that Spot wasn't really angry with the Midnight Gang, but rather at himself for leaving Gears alone long enough for her to make it to the rumble.  
Midnight, though she wanted to, didn't ask why she thought that. Instead, she sat down across from her. Something had been bothering Enchanted since the end of the rumble, and it wasn't that she had stabbed Jack. She had been able to come to terms with it, something that Midnight hadn't been able to do. "Chanty. What's wrong?"  
For a split second, Enchanted wondered whether she should recount to her what Spot had pointedly told her. But she knew Midnight. And she knew that the reaction she would get wasn't one of understanding but rather of resentment towards the Brooklyn Leader. "Nothin'," she lied, as she turned away from Midnight to lean on her side.  
Midnight, hurt at her right-hand girl's unwillingness to confide in her, hurriedly concealed the rising tears in her chestnut eyes. "All right," Midnight whispered and stood up, leaving the room to Enchanted. 


	11. Chapter 11

Disclaimer: Newsies doesn't belong to me and I am getting really bored of typing the same thing over and over  
  
  
~*~  
  
Two weeks passed without any significance. The only sign that they progressed was that the bruises and shiners in the Midnight Gang were fading away. However, the memory of the rumble still stayed fresh in their minds. The wild respect they had had for Midnight was strengthened by quiet fear. The only girls who seemed to be unfazed by Midnight's action on that night were Enchanted and Uhm. Uhm steadily seemed to grow away from the group.   
The Midnight Gang became grim, a caricature of themselves. The frolicking they used to do at bars was replaced by steady work they each got to support themselves. The group branched off into alliances of threes and fours, and they were no longer the compact group they had been. Still, though, they struggled to keep up the pretense that they were still the old Midnight Gang, still as close as ever.  
It wasn't like they had lost any of the begrudged respect they had earned through all of New York City. On the other hand, the respect grew when the other Lodging Houses learned what Midnight had brazenly done to Jack, and now, on the streets, no one ever dared to cross any one of the Midnight Gang.  
With Azure gone, it was like the laughter had gone too. Sure, they laughed, but not as whole-heartedly or as extravagantly as Azure had. The truth was, it just wasn't the same without her. So, Midnight and Enchanted made the hard decision to visit the Manhattan Lodging House to determine if she was ever going to reconsider her departure from the Midnight Gang.  
  
The night they decided to do it was dark, the only source of light hidden behind storm clouds. As Midnight and Enchanted slipped along the building walls, they were both secretly pleased to find out that neither of them had lost their touch at slinking in the shadows. It seemed to be a skill they could never lose. Furtively, they snuck up the fire escape that led up to the window of the Lodging House. The noise that reached them was feverish and hectic, and they both realized at the same time that the rumble had succeeded only in bringing the Manhattan newsies closer. As they passed through the window, Midnight felt a little pain at how they had done this about a month earlier, and how changed the Midnight Gang became.   
Just as before, there was a full 15 seconds until someone noticed them. This time, it was Azure, sitting at the side of Jack on a lower bunk bed who pointed them out.  
"Hello, Midnight," she greeted coldly, her eyes narrowing.  
"We need ta talk ta you'se, Azure," Midnight said docilely, trying very hard to control her temper.  
"We can talk in heah," Azure said in a stormy tone, unconsciously easing closer to Jack. Skittery and Bumlets, who were on opposite sides of the room, stood up uneasily and started moving towards the pair, as if to form a shield.  
"No, we can't," Midnight uttered through gritted teeth.  
"Azzy," Enchanted put a hand on Midnight's arm to restrain her, "what we need ta say has ta be said in private. Please."  
Azure, caught off guard at her politeness, nodded tersely and followed them to the fire escape. "What do you guys want? I quit da gang two weeks ago," she stated frankly when they were out of earshot of everyone in the room.  
"And we need you ta come back," Midnight said honestly. "Everythin's changed since ya left."  
"It isn't my fault," Azure shot back, "I didn't cause da change. You did. You didn't know when ta quit, when ta stop."  
"You were da one who suggested da rumble in da foist place!" Midnight argued.  
"Yeah, and if you were anythin' of a leadah, you'd know dat you'se shouldn't have taken me seriously! Don't ya get it, Midi? Da rumble was what caused us to grow apart in da end," Azure declared.  
"Fine, whadevah," Midnight muttered after a minute's deliberation. "But you still need ta come back. It ain't da same widout you."  
Azure opened her mouth to bluntly refuse when she caught sight of Enchanted's eyes. Silent through the whole conversation, the only sign that she was listening were her deep brown eyes, now moving painfully away from her two friends to the street below. Exhaling, Azure came to a swift decision. "Fine."  
Enchanted's eyes jumped from the street to Azure's cerulean ones with disbelief. There was a catch, she knew it. If the rumors were true, she had fallen for Cowboy, and he returned the feeling with all his heart. Azure wouldn't give up what she had gotten just to return to the Midnight Gang.  
"Only if you'll apologize ta Jack fo' what you did."  
Damn. The one thing she requested would never be granted on Midnight's part. Enchanted said good-bye to the only chance to get Azure back and purposefully accepted that the Midnight Gang would be a quiet gang from now on.  
"No!" Midnight heatedly refused, "I ain't apologizin', ya got it? I ain't sorry fo' what I did!"  
"You're so---" inarticulate, Azure clenched her fists in a sign of anger, "Jack coulda died! I don't care how much ya hated him; he nevah deserved what you gave him!"   
"Common sense ta not mess with da Midnight Gang!"  
"Dat's bullshit, and you know it! You'se did it to show everyone dat ya don't care! Midnight, I don't know what happened in your past, but you need ta let go of it!"   
She had hit a sore part. Midnight inhaled sharply. "My past is none a ya business, you got it? You seriously don't t'ink you belong wid da newsies, do ya?" She said the word newsies with loathing.  
"Midnight, don't git offended by dis," Azure said softly, "cuz da Midnight Gang brings back so many memories. You guys were my family. You took me in when I coulda died alone on da streets. But I'm bettah now. I'm wiser. And I'm tellin' you now: I don't think I've evah belonged with anythin' more den da Manhattan newsies."  
Azure said it levelly, without any quivers, so Midnight knew she was speaking the truth. Smoldering, she spun on her heel and stamped down the fire escape, not bothering to make sure that Enchanted was following her. Enchanted wasn't.  
  
Below the fire escape, Race waited. He had witnessed the two sneak in, like shadows when he had come home from a late night at the tracks, and puffing on his cigar, he waited for them to come back out. He was soon rewarded as they exited the Bunk Room Azure with them.  
Race eavesdropped noiselessly as the argument unfolded above him with no qualms about what he was doing.   
When Midnight stamped off the fire escape, he trailed behind her as she ran, fast and hard, through the streets of Manhattan. He couldn't really tell, but he had a suspicion that she was crying. She took so many twists that he lost his way. Soon, he realized he didn't care. Midnight was crying, and he strangely wanted to comfort her.  
Shortly, like he knew she would, she stumbled and fell with an audible thud on the ground. She drew in a shuddering breath.   
Midnight knew that Race was following her. She had felt his presence behind her as she ran through Manhattan, trying to shake him off her tail. She preferred to do her crying alone.   
She felt his hands on her back and tried in vain to push him away.   
"Are you ok?" he asked, anxious.  
"I'm fine," she lied, "now go away." She struggled to her feet and tried to flounce away. Amazingly, her face was bone dry. Not a tear showed. Race grabbed her arm and jerked her back.  
"What is wrong with you'se?" he demanded. "It's okay to show a lil emotion at times, ya know?"  
"Go away," Midnight whispered, pleading now. She could feel the tears starting up in her eyes, and she hadn't cried in front of anyone in ages. She didn't think she would feel any better for showing this weakness to Racetrack.  
"I know," he said softly, his hold loosening, his eyes searching Midnight's, "dat you ain't as tough as everyone t'inks you are. And it don't mattah ta me."  
That was enough. As Racetrack held her, Midnight sobbed in his arms, inhaling the sickly sweet scent of cigars on a man's skin.  
~*~ 


	12. Chapter 12

~*~  
  
Enchanted regarded Azure silently. "Dere was a time," she said, "when you woulda died instead of arguin' wid Midnight."  
"Things have changed," Azure replied cryptically.  
"You love Jack?"  
Azure looked down at her feet. There was smile lurking around thee corner of her lips, almost imperceptible, but it was there nonetheless. "It's different dis time, Enchanted. Not like all da other guys. I feel...I don't know...complete with Jack."  
"Congratulations," Enchanted said bitterly, "you've found your soul mate. I hope you two have lotsa kids."  
"Oh." Azure suddenly knew what Enchanted was moping about. "Seattle's been asking 'bout ya."  
Enchanted tried not to look interested, and failed miserably.  
"Been askin' stuff about your history, what you're like. He's even asked if you've evah fallen in love before." Azure calculated Enchanted's response. "He's crazy 'bout you."  
"No, he's not," Enchanted muttered, a tiny little smirk appearing on her face.  
"Yes, he is," Azure brushed a strand of Enchanted's hair out of her eyes and then looked towards the Lodging House. "Aren't ya gonna go aftah Midnight?"  
"No," Enchanted answered. "She likes ta cry alone."  
Unable to swerve from Enchanted's love life, Azure continued. "You're crazy fo' him, too," she noted.  
"No, I'm not!" Enchanted disagreed.  
"If you don't do anythin' about it," Azure threatened, "I'll take mattahs inta me own hands."  
"Nothing's gonna happen," she replied tartly. "We're different. He's a newsie, and I hate newsies, and you know dat. Dere are certain boundaries and walls dat even love can't cross."  
Azure shied away from Enchanted. "All right. Fine. Let's talk about somethin' else."  
For a half-hour they sat on the fire escape, talking about whatever crossed their minds. For a half hour, Enchanted carefully shielded her thoughts from Azure, knowing that if she found out that she was thinking about Seattle and his beautiful eyes, she most certainly would take matters into her own hands. When Azure invited Enchanted to spend the night, she shook her head. "Nah. I don't belong heah."  
Azure looked up at her with hesitation.   
Enchanted took Azure's hand within her own and clasped it, a friend's farewell. "But you do. I'll be seein' you around."  
So saying, Enchanted descended the stairs languidly and disappeared into the night.  
~*~  
  
Midnight arrived at the factory at about the same time Enchanted did. Enchanted took one look at Midnight and realized that something was different about her closest friend. 'She's cried it all out,' Enchanted thought, astonishedly.  
The two were not even bothered when Uhm approached a bit nervously, her notebook secured underneath her arm.   
"I just came back from seein' Lightning," she announced, her pale skin getting paler.  
"How is she?" Midnight questioned.  
"She's fine. A lil angry, but fine. Dat's not whad I came ta talk ta you'se about. I talked to Spot. And he said dat he had room fo' me."  
"Wait. He said what?" Enchanted asked incredulously.   
"I've decided---" Uhm drew in a huge breath, "dat I'se wanna quit da Midnight Gang too. It ain't nothin' personal...it's just dat..." she threw a helpless glance at Enchanted.  
Enchanted nodded. "I understand."  
Uhm turned to leave, when Midnight touched her shoulder. By now, she was too tired to act shocked. "What about Lightning?"  
"I don't know," Uhm replied uncertainly. "She says she wants ta stay and take care a Gears. And dat she'll come ta talk ta you when she's ready."  
  
Uhm left the Midnight Gang that night, and became a Brooklyn newsie. To Midnight and Enchanted, it signaled something final. They knew that the famous Midnight Gang, known as the wildest, toughest girls ever to walk the streets of New York was slowly dying away.  
~*~  
  
The next month was hard for Midnight. She visited the Brooklyn Lodging House to see how Uhm and Lightning were doing, and found exactly what she expected. Uhm was doing well, thriving on the atmosphere and Lightning...well, Lightning fit the role of Spot's girl almost perfectly. She was tough, street-smart, and she wasn't afraid of him. All he ever wanted in a girl, Midnight thought cynically.  
She watched as Spot leaned over to run his fingers through Lightning's golden hair, and she smiled up at him, not her cold smirk or her toothy grin, but rather a soft, tender smile. When Spot pulled her body to his and gave her a kiss that would have made even Rook whoop, Midnight understood that with that act, Lightning had sheared away all connection to the Midnight Gang. She was now a Brooklyn newsie, well taken care of, and happy. And that was all Midnight ever wanted for her girls.  
Cats soon followed Azure's example and followed her to the Manhattan Lodging House. Then Snaps, bent on seeing her brother, got over her fierce hatred of newsies and made herself welcome. She still continued going steady with Morris, though, a tie she would never sever.  
Rook and Whisper, became waitresses at Tibby's, due to Sugar Plum's help in getting them employed.  
Autumn, Mimic, and Porcelyn used their talents and became part of Medda's vaudeville show.  
Giggles and Bitter worked together at a bar in the down town area of Queens.  
And that's what happened to the Midnight Gang. Once a strong group of fourteen, now a languishing group of two.  
About to become one, Midnight amended that thought. She squared her shoulders and strode in the front door of the Manhattan Lodging House. She had never walked in this way before, always choosing to come in through the window. It was a surprise to all of the Manhattan newsies, including the new ex-members of the Gang to see her standing tall, unruffled, among the newsies she proclaimed to hate so much.  
"I need ta talk ta Jack," she uttered coolly, ignoring Race's glances. Jack put out the cigarette he was smoking and gave a hurried kiss to Azure.  
Outside the Lodging House, Jack studied Midnight with piteous eyes. "I'm sorry...bout da gang breakin' up and all..."  
Midnight shrugged, hiding once again, her true feelings. "It was bound ta happen. Listen, I just wanted ta say...I'm sorry fo' whad I did."  
Jack didn't say anything, just studied her some more. And then he nodded, and tilted his cowboy hat over his eyes. "If ya need someplace ta stay," he offered.  
"No," Midnight interrupted in that brusque way of hers. "I got a place up in Queens," she smiled suddenly. "I just wanted ta apologize."  
"Da apology's accepted," he murmured sincerely, and then he turned his back to her and prepared to enter the Lodging House.  
Midnight, unable to restrain herself, blurted out suddenly, "Jack!"  
He pivoted smoothly, curiosity filling his chocolate brown eyes.  
"When you're da leadah of a group," she said haltingly, not sure of what she was saying, "you learn ta love 'em all, don't ya?"  
Jack grinned openly. "Yeah. Just like you learn dat you can't control 'em, and dat dey have their own lives. Just like you learn dat being in charge doesn't mean being all-powerful and tough. Just like you learn dat sometimes showing weakness makes you da bettah leadah."  
Midnight nodded, musing over the words. And then she came to a swift decision. "Could ya git Race fo' me?"  
  
She had not seen him for a month, since the day she cried and he held her. And she wasn't sure of exactly what she was doing as she faced him. Then again, this was totally new for her, doing without thinking, but rather, doing with feeling.  
"You told me," she started, "dat it's ok ta show a lil emotion. Well, I've been workin' on dat and I feel---" she trailed off, inarticulate, choking on the words.  
Racetrack stood aloof, waiting for her to finish.  
"I feel somethin' when I'm around you. I don't know what it is, and I don't know why I feel it, but it's dere..."  
Racetrack grinned and pulled out a cigar. He lit it with a match struck against the brick wall of the Lodging House, and he puffed on it, considering what he was going to say. Finally, he stated, "I feel it, too."  
It was one of the shortest sentences he had ever uttered, being that he was a wise mouth around the newsies. He didn't need to say anything more. He threw away the cigar he had just lighted, and held out his arms.  
Midnight went to him and he kissed her. And in that moment, just before Midnight completely fell for Racetrack, she resigned as the leader of the non-existent Midnight Gang.  
~*~ 


	13. Chapter 13

A/N: It's finally finished!! Yay!! **does victory dance** I'm not content with the ending, so feel free to criticize as much as you like! I LOVE YOU GUYS WHO REVIEWED MY WORK, IT MAKES ME FEEL REALLY REALLY SPECIAL!! THANK YOU!  
  
  
~*~  
  
Enchanted learned of all of this that night. Midnight found her at the Brooklyn docks, staring at the rippling water. When she confided in her about Race, the smile that lit her face was like the sun peeking out of dark storm clouds.  
"I'm happy fo' you," she said simply, still grinning like a happy child.  
"Whad are ya gonna do? I'm shoah Jack would be happy to take you back---"   
Enchanted shook her head. "I don't belong dere. Uddawise, I wouldn't have walked out in da foist place. I don't think I even belonged with da Midnight Gang." She referred to the gang in past tense, knowing full and well that the Midnight Gang had finally ended.  
"No one did," Midnight answered arcanely.  
They both watched the water until the moon hid behind a cloud.  
"So whad are ya gonna do?" Midnight finally asked the question that was both on their minds.  
"I don't know. Leave. It seems da easiest t'ing ta do...only I don't wanna leave New York and da goils behind."  
"You won't," Midnight uttered. "You nevah will. All thirteen a us are connected, and it'll nevah break. We're in your heart, your thought, your memories. And you can nevah leave us behind."  
"Damn," Enchanted muttered, "since when did you get poetic?"  
This extracted laughter from Midnight, who laughed long and loud. "Just be shoah ta come back someday," she ordered her right-hand girl and her closest friend, "Da Midnight Gang's gonna have a reunion."  
This time, Enchanted laughed. And surprisingly, when the peals of laughter died away, there were teardrops running down her cheeks and Midnight's cheeks. Wordlessly, they embraced.  
The tears they cried were a mix of emotions: lament at having lost something so great, and happiness at the bright future ahead.  
~*~  
  
Dawn found Enchanted at the train station, a large amount of cash in her hand. It was her last haul from New York for the time being, the last money she would ever pickpocket from New York for a long time. She approached the ticket stand and shoved half the money at the man, whose eyes widened at the sheer amount.  
"How far will dis get me?" Enchanted asked roughly, shoving the rest of her money into her corduroy pockets.  
"Well...to Seattle, miss."  
Enchanted smiled wryly. It figured. "I'll take it," she declared.  
"One way, miss?" the ticket vendor asked in disbelief.  
"One way," Enchanted confirmed.  
  
She got on the train and plopped down on a seat, waiting for the train to get going so she could stop saying goodbye to everything she knew and everything she loved. In the middle of her farewells, someone dropped noisily in the seat next to her.  
"Hey," said a familiar voice.  
Enchanted looked up, blinking in skepticism. It couldn't be!   
Yet, there he was, dressed in his black pants and gray button up shirt. His black strands of hair fell adorably in front of his unusual blue eyes, which shone with a sort of admiration right now.  
"Seattle?" she whispered, hardly daring to believe it, "what are ya doin' heah?"  
"Goin' home. I'll miss it here, but I miss it even more there. I guess I'll come back to visit, but..." he trailed off, lost in thought. "What about you?"  
"I dunno...I just..."  
"Have you ever read Romeo and Juliet?" Seattle interrupted her.  
"Yes, I have," Enchanted frowned. What did this have to do with anything?   
"Two people are in love. They have a boundary they dare not cross and a wall that they dare not breach..." Seattle reached down and took her hand in his. "So love does it for them. In death, they finally are together at last," so saying, kissed her hand and then pulled her closer. "Don't you see?" his urgent whisper reached her, "Love can cross all boundaries and walls."  
And his lips met hers.   
The sound of the train whistle broke them apart and Seattle glanced at her adoringly. He ran a hand down her side and kissed her neck. Meanwhile, Enchanted came to a startling realization. Where she belonged and where she chose to stay was one and the same. And she chose to stay with Seattle.  
"We can go say goodbye to your friends if you'd like to. I know that they meant a lot to you," his voice broke into her thoughts  
Enchanted shook her head, still stunned.   
"I don't need to say goodbye. They're all with me." And she said a final farewell to all her friends within her thoughts.  
She tugged him towards her again, and this time it was she who kissed him with all her heart and soul.  
  
The train whistle blew once more, and then the train started moving inexorably towards Seattle, Oregon Territory.  
The last member of the Midnight Gang went along with it.  
~*~ 


End file.
